mr president last time we met we praised the council's speedy response to the financial crisis
but for this european council speed seems no longer to be of the essence
well it should be
the challenges facing our union are real
the recession is smothering businesses and climate change grows ever more stark
we need the council and the commission to acknowledge what martin luther king called the fierce urgency of now
yesterday our finance ministers failed to grasp the urgency of the recovery plan
the stimulus impulse is changing from sugar to treacle
the presidency should tell us which member states were against
we have got to stay within the stability and growth pact maintain competition and state aid rules and meet the challenge of the lisbon agenda but we have got to act fast
the council will of course search for a legally binding framework to cut carbon emissions
there has been progress cap and trade not regulation and burden derogations for small-scale emitters sensitivity to individual states circumstances and a sliding scale for carbon auctioning all these are reasonable
what would not be reasonable is any attempt by any member state to shoot down a long-term plan for short-term self interest
if we do not tackle climate change now the bill will balloon
last week's deal on co from cars shows how easy it is to take the path of least resistance to let vested interests get ahead of global interests
there will be costs in a climate-change deal but there are opportunities too
europe can lead the world in green innovation
the prizes go to the bold and europe must have the courage of its convictions
last week the irish published a thoughtful report on options for the treaty of lisbon
now the taoiseach must come forward with a concrete plan and a clear time frame for moving forward because europe's citizens want an effective european union
you will never convince anyone to have more confidence in our union if it does not work
and we saw last week an example of the union not working
members of this house who escaped last week's bombings in mumbai were met by an eu consul who told them he would help only citizens from his own country
nothing shows more the urgent need for coordinated eu consular protection
our union must protect all its citizens in their time of need
the commission president has said we sink or swim together
well some may prefer to tread water but europe has done that before and it does not work
we need action now from the european council
