Nobody knows how it happened, but somehow a confidential EU Commission document has made its way through obscure pathways into the hands of the interested Brussels public. In this document titled “A Reform Agenda for Global Europe”, the previous debates between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission for a financial audit in 2008-‘09 are summarised, and suggestions for a reform of the budget starting in 2013 are made.
I am very happy to be here on this memorable day, and to be able to speak here sixty years after the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I would like to speak about universal human rights and the European left. In so doing, it is necessary that we remember the past, and define the point of understanding that we as left democrats have now reached. I would like to dedicate my remarks to Anna Politkovskaya and all those people who have taken risks, including that of their own lives, for the freedom of expression.
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