First of all, of course, we must respect national democracies and we regret that the recent memorandum from Benelux on the future of the European Union does not make any reference at all to this respect. We want a Europe that respects its people in practice and, as a start, we request that the next Intergovernmental Conference be prepared by the national parliaments and by these alone, and not the confused and illegitimate authorities or the committees of so-called wise men, which only succeed in sending Europe down dead end roads. Respect for national democracies also involves avoiding projects that flout national sovereignties, such as the European tax which, in fact, Mr V
erhofstadt, you are advocated by renaming ...[+++] it the ‘direct funding of the European budget’.
Respecter les démocraties nationales, c'est aussi se garder de projets qui font fi des souverainetés nationales, comme l'impôt européen que, pourtant, Monsieur le Président en exercice du Conseil, vous poussez en le rebaptisant financement direct du budget européen. Ce sont les parlements nationaux et eux seuls qui doivent détenir le pouvoir de consentir l'impôt, car c'est eux qui possèdent la légitimité primordiale.
