Tony Benn Quotes

I do not consider the Lisbon Treaty to be a good thing for Europe, for the freedom of Europe, or for the Czech Republic.

Look at the European Parliament. There are a lot of people who are looking for simplistic solutions, for - who are sort of preaching policies of - well, very unfriendly policies.

Privatization is a neoliberal and imperialist plan. Health can't be privatized because it is a fundamental human right, nor can education, water, electricity and other public services. They can't be surrendered to private capital that denies the people from their rights.

The European Union, ok, right, it has a bureaucracy, right. It's sometimes difficult to deal with but so what? You hire a couple of people like me to work the European Union, and it can be done. It's pretty good.

I have said I will not work with the parliamentary party in Strasbourg again but of course I will continue to be a member of Ukip.

Czech Republic is an important part of central Europe. It's clear that we must participate in European integration. I am convinced that the Czech Republic - or, in the past, Czechoslovakia - would have been one of the founding members of the EU if it hadn't been for the communist takeover in 1948.

I am glad to see that men are getting their rights, but I want women to get theirs, and while the water is stirring, I will step into the pool.

The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.

Nothing will do more damage to the pro-European movement than giving room to the suspicion that we have something to hide, that we do not have the “cojones” to carry our argument to the people.

I want to destroy the EU, not Europe! I believe in a Europe of nation-states.

Nations are an historic reality in Europe. They all have different histories, and they joined the EU at very different times and under widely differing circumstances. I was mayor of Warsaw for three years and always in favor of Poland joining the EU. But I also experienced how we had to implement EU regulations that were completely inappropriate to our situation.

I like Macron a lot and I very much welcome him - particularly the fact that he made Europe one of the main topics of the election debate.

The next Euro-elections will be a step towards a United States of Europe

It's up to [Angela Merkel] whether she wants to stand again and then ultimately, it'll be up to the German people to decide what the future holds. If I were here and I were German and I had a vote, I might support her.

I believe neither the French nor the Dutch really rejected the constitutional treaty.

Educated people can make their own choices about their governments. And certainly for women, an education allows you to understand your rights.

Even in decision-making, we work in self-help groups. That is women coming together in small groups of 10 to sometimes 15 women, where they start to get education about their rights, about clean water and sanitation, about how to have a healthy birth. You can bring in all kinds of education to them that way.

The euro is a great achievement. It's a symbolic achievement. But, the European constitution was a missed opportunity.

I think that the Brexit negotiations have to be a big thing that determines the democratic fight-back and galvanizes democratic Europe again against this rising tide of nationalism.

I think the longer Britain is in Europe the better.

A balanced tone on Europe will free us to address in depth the domestic, economic and social agenda which we neglected throughout the last parliament.

Turkey will "inevitably" join the EU in our lifetime unless we vote to leave.

But it is the best thing that we have for bringing the countries of Europe around the same table and for forging compromises so that people here can live in peace, freedom and prosperity. In a world which is growing closer together all the time, we can only survive and influence the rules if we join forces. We will miss the presence of the United Kingdom at this table.

I want the European Union to be a success. And I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.

Europe was initially supposed to be primarily a political project! The EU never would have come about had it been up to experts or diplomats. It was created by people who had learned from the drama of our collective history. I am proposing a new beginning, not one in which it is first deliberated ad infinitum what instruments one needs, but one that follows from the goals we want to achieve.