mr president firstly i am pleased to see my former colleague cecilia malmström here particularly in light of the convincing yes to lisbon in ireland followed by the signature of the democratically elected polish president
i think these two further endorsements will i hope facilitate the swedish presidency to preside over the full ratification of the lisbon treaty
however most european citizens are far more concerned about what the eu is doing to deal with the current economic crisis rather than the detail of lisbon
so i say to my eurosceptic friends get over it
before the irish yes vote twenty-seven million eu citizens voted yes twenty-four million voted no
that is democratic legitimacy
so let us deal with the real world
in this context i want to speak about the progress microfinance facility which will give those who are unemployed a chance of a new start and open up the way to entrepreneurship
this facility will provide eur one hundred million and could leverage a further eur five hundred million of microcredit
but i am saying to the commission and to the council this is not nearly enough
this is a real opportunity for the eu to be responsive to the real needs of its citizens but we need greater investment
