Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-14-Speech-2-015"
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this fourth debate in Parliament, like the previous ones, is taking place at a time of deep international crisis. As was the case last spring in the Balkans, so today in East Timor democratic will is being trampled underfoot and this is causing great suffering and poses a serious risk to peace. Until we are able to put a stop to this situation, I think we should hang our heads in shame. In the last few days, I have done everything within my – still provisional – power to contact the Indonesian authorities. Today at 2 p.m., I will be having talks with President Habibie and I think we must pile on the pressure and make every effort to end what is happening.
Having talked about the method, I should now like to turn to what this new Commission will do, if endorsed of course, by referring to the programmes already explained in the other interventions and which are still entirely valid.
In January, as agreed, the Commission will present the policy perspectives for the next five years, to be closely followed by the presentation of the working programme for the year 2000. It is also important and essential that we hold a major overall political debate at the beginning of each year. I know you share my views on this. In future, therefore, I intend to present an Annual Political and Economic Report on the State of the Union. This report will consolidate material currently contained in a whole range of Commission reports that are not always well co-ordinated. This should provide a unifying element in the policy formulation process. It is my hope that together we will be able to organise the political discussion and consultation process much more coherently than before.
Today, I would like to give you a brief overview of three fundamental challenges facing us: enlargement of the European Union and how this affects our relations with neighbouring countries; reform of the institutions of the European Union and the preparation of the next Intergovernmental Conference; and securing economic growth, creating jobs and the pursuit of sustainable development.
We have inherited from our founders an adventurous, visionary project, and as we plan the future, it is important to recall what we have already achieved. We have created a customs union and a single market based on the free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital. We have built an economic and monetary union with a single currency. We have laid the foundations of a political union with shared institutions and a strong European Parliament elected by universal suffrage.
What we now need to build is a union of hearts and minds, underpinned by a strong shared sentiment of a common destiny – a sense of common European citizenship. We come from different countries. We speak different languages. We have different historical and cultural traditions. And we must preserve these differences. But today, we are seeking a shared identity – a new European soul.
It was the vision of the founding fathers fifty years ago to create a European Community based on peace, stability and prosperity. And that European ideal is as relevant to our citizens now as it was then. As I stand before you today, peace, stability and prosperity are still our common goal.
This is why enlarging the EU is such a tremendous challenge. Our political convictions will be reflected in our attitude to enlargement, as if in a mirror. Can we really think of achieving peace, stability and prosperity, while only reserving it for ourselves, the 15 Member States? I think not, and the Balkan crisis shows that this is not possible.
The question therefore is, do we have the courage, the vision and the ambition to offer a genuine prospect of peace, stability and prosperity to an enlarged Union and beyond, to the wider Europe? Terrible conflicts have divided our continent this century. We in the European Union have put them behind us for good and we must help our neighbours to walk the same path.
I do not pretend that the task is easy. It requires a comprehensive strategy setting out how, over the next 25 years we are going to enlarge the European Union to 15, 20, 25 or even 30 Member States. This process will require a lot of sacrifices and changes within ourselves and in our relations with each other.
The strategy must take account of three things: first, the fact that, inevitably, enlargement will happen in stages: some countries will join before others; second, the specific needs of those countries who face a longer wait for membership; and third, the way in which this process of enlargement affects our other neighbours, for whom membership itself is not an issue but with whom we want close and constructive relations, which are required for peace and prosperity.
With regard to the first point, be sure that we need a political vision, not a technocratic one. We need to set a genuine enlargement strategy looking beyond accession to our life together in the enlarged family of European nations. This means, first of all, that we need to give serious consideration in Helsinki to setting a firm date for the accession of those countries which are best prepared, even if this means granting lengthy transition periods to deal with their political, social and economic problems. There are also implications for the next Intergovernmental Conference, to which I will return in a moment.
And there is the fundamental question of how enlargement will affect our common policies. The more we enlarge, the harder it will be to say what effectively needs to be dealt with at a European level and what needs to be dealt with at a lower level.
We really must organise the subsidiarity that Europe is based on. I do not pretend to have the answers on this, but we must have the courage to address the question seriously and honestly.
The second point is that we have to think creatively and intelligently about meeting the needs of countries for whom Membership is a more distant prospect. I am thinking of closer co-operation with those countries, perhaps granting them ‘virtual Membership’ – please excuse the phrase, but it is difficult to find something better, and it is instructive – in certain areas as a prelude to full Membership. They could, for example, be offered the fullest possible participation in economic and monetary union, new forms of security co-operation adapted to their needs, and new forms of consultative and observer relationships with the European institutions on a case by case basis based on facts.
However, the situation in the Balkans deserves special mention, because although the prospect of EU Membership for those countries is not imminent, we must nonetheless use it to spur them towards peaceful co-existence and greater inter-regional partnership.
Let me be clear. The people of the Balkans have to resolve their conflicts themselves before they can enter the European Union. They should not think they can import them into the EU so we can resolve them for them.
However, they certainly need our assistance, and I want to underline the European Commission’s special responsibility for the large and essential reconstruction effort. Our citizens expect the European Union to take a moral and political lead, particularly in a region which is on our doorstep. I do not want to disappoint them. I am also concerned because in the space of a few weeks, discussions on the Balkans have lost vitality and dramatic force, almost as if in some way we consider them to be of secondary importance.
The third element of the strategy must be a clear and comprehensive approach towards our near neighbours whose contribution to the peace and stability of the wider Europe is vital. Such a strategy will succeed only if it is inclusive. All of us – the European Union, the applicant countries and our neighbours in the wider Europe – must work together towards our common destiny: a wider European area offering peace, stability and prosperity to all. A ‘new European order’. This should include ‘Strategic Partnerships’ with Russia and Ukraine, adapted to the geo-political dimensions of these countries. And it should include a ‘Partnership of Cultures’ – the term I am tempted to suggest for a new and much more ambitious commitment towards the Mediterranean, where we Europeans are dedicated to promoting a new, exemplary harmony between peoples of the three religions of Jerusalem. A resounding ‘No’ to the need for conflict between civilisations.
Finally, I must say a word about the importance of our strategic relationship with the United States. We need to build a reinforced transatlantic partnership capable of showing real joint leadership. Our first opportunity to do this will be the launch of an ambitious and comprehensive Millennium Round in Seattle offering further progress to all WTO Members: let us seize this opportunity with farsightedness and intelligence, and begin a new chapter on world trade relations.
Let me now turn to the second immediate challenge facing us: the imminent Intergovernmental Conference. We have always known that enlargement would raise the difficult question of how the institutions function. But the recent crisis in the Commission and the poor turnout in the 1999 European elections have shown that a genuinely ambitious reform of the European institutions is now imperative. And the Treaty of Amsterdam – positive on some issues – has fallen short of what was required on directly institutional matters.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the time to vote for the Commission has come. I have already explained to you several times why I believe that our programme is the right one and that this is the right team to lead the European Commission over the next five years.
In my view, to proceed by stages, with an endless series of Intergovernmental Conferences, is particularly unappealing. It would plunge Europe into a state of perpetual constitutional reform. This would be incomprehensible to our citizens and our neighbours. And it would be a huge waste of energy much needed elsewhere to initiate new policies.
So we cannot afford to settle for a minimal reform that fails to equip us with an effective and efficient decision-making apparatus. As you know, I have asked Mr De Haene, Mr von Weiszäcker and Lord Simon to prepare a report which the Commission will draw upon in forming its own position on the issues which the Intergovernmental Conference must tackle. This report will be made available to you, and I look forward to a constructive debate in the run-up to the Helsinki Summit.
We have to express our views clearly and loudly, because the coming months will be crucial in determining whether we enter a new era strong and well-equipped or weak and inward-looking.
But Europe is not about institutions: it is about people. Prosperity in Europe depends on European people having jobs, and we need to get Europe back to work. Jobs depend on a healthy economy, so the third key challenge facing us is how to achieve environmentally and economically sustainable growth that creates new jobs.
After a difficult period, the European economy is now recovering. Growth is back, even if it is not yet uniformly spread, but the signs are good. The sometimes painful process of convergence towards economic and monetary union – combined with the responsible attitude of the economic and social forces towards wages – has finally created the macroeconomic conditions for healthy growth. The introduction of the euro has consolidated this achievement. The Member States’ stability programmes will deepen it.
This is good news. But it also places upon us a huge responsibility. The economic upturn provides us with a golden opportunity to make structural adjustments at lower costs. Modernising Europe’s economy today means more European jobs tomorrow. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity, as we have too often done in the past.
We must therefore use the more favourable years ahead to ensure that growth remains strong for as long as possible, that it generates the jobs we need, and that we combine it with a renewed and meaningful commitment to sustainable development.
We must also tackle the long-term problems resulting from demographic trends, which constitute one of Europe’s main problems that we must still work on, and their impact on the fabric of our societies. Ultimately, this means increasing both productivity and the number of people actively participating in the labour force. If we can do this, we have a real opportunity to build an equitable and sustainable society for present and future generations.
The single market has given a new vitality to our economics and is contributing to the present recovery. But we must continue restructuring the single market and promoting liberalisation to bring even more competition in the goods and, especially, the services sector. This will help us to maximise the job-creating potential of growth and, in the longer term, will support a higher growth in our productive capacity.
This is not the place to list the structural reforms needed: they have already been outlined in many Commission reports. We must now start to put them into practice.
You have scrutinised the group of Commissioners both through their written responses to your questionnaires and through the hearings you have held with each Commissioner-designate. I should like to pay tribute today to the dignified and business-like way in which those difficult hearings were conducted. I also hope that your vote tomorrow will mark a new beginning in relations between our two institutions, because if there is a favourable vote, it means that after all these months, we can finally get down to work.
I would, however, like to mention one specific challenge facing us, which we can add to the list begun in other discussions on health, sport and so on. Information technology is transforming the way in which we live and work and the way in which firms operate. It enables individuals and firms to do things unthinkable only a few years ago. The current stunning performance of the American economy owes much to the gusto with which the United States has embraced information technology. I am concerned that European countries seem reluctant to fully exploit the potential of this technology.
Modern economies are increasingly knowledge-based, and this is an area where we have a competitive advantage at world level. Encouraging the use and development of information technologies will therefore be a priority for the new Commission. I propose to launch an initiative in this area for the Helsinki Summit, and it will be ambitious, aiming to involve all the European youth.
Finally, we must take advantage of economic recovery and stronger growth to adapt our welfare systems to current demographic trends. We can no longer ignore the problems or postpone the decisions: the pensioners of 2050 are already among us! A highly developed welfare system is one of the distinctive features of our European societies and we must preserve it. However, we owe it to our children to adapt it so that it will offer them credible promises as close as possible to those it held out to our generation.
The Commission recently proposed an ambitious strategy for further EU co-operation in this area, and this is something to which I will be attaching particular importance. In all these difficult tasks, the European Union has a crucial role to play. First, because it is more effective to address long-term issues through concerted European strategies – such as those aimed at European employment – than at purely national or local level, even though this level is necessary too. Second, because action at European level often makes it easier to avoid the more immediate pressures of the national electoral cycle. So, we can distance ourselves a bit more from the problems, and we must therefore see the wider picture. We have the tools to do the job. For example, following the Luxembourg Summit, solid progress has been made in building a genuine European employment strategy in which the combination of guidelines and recommendations is providing a powerful European stimulus to change.
We have to continue driving this process forward, deepening co-operation at European level so as to focus people’s minds and actions on the major structural reforms needed to revitalise our economies. This is now possible.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, you are the democratically elected representatives of the European citizens. You represent the different European political families in all their diversity and complexity. I hope that in your vote tomorrow you will give the new Commission your strong support. For my part, I stand by the political commitments I gave to the Conference of Presidents last week, which now have to be integrated into a new framework that will govern our future work. Let us therefore turn the page. Let us foster a new spirit of co-operation between our institutions. A new balance, based on mutual respect and firm co-operation. A new partnership, working for the people of Europe. A new Commission. A new European Parliament. A new start.
Together we must put Europe at the service of the people. We have to win back ordinary people’s confidence in Europe and in a European vision which puts their needs first.
I want our two institutions and the Council, which collectively form the triangle that underpins the European Union, to work together, genuinely and efficiently serving the people of Europe. I am determined to transform the Commission into a modern, efficient administration which has learnt the lessons of recent experience and finally put its house in order.
The reform process already underway within the Commission is just the beginning. In February 2000, Neil Kinnock, who is here beside me, will present a comprehensive Blueprint for Reform which will take careful account of the second report of the Committee of Independent Experts. And of course we will consult and inform the European Parliament on progress in this field.
The Commission intends to become much more open. It is time for some glasnost here! I want to bring Europe out from behind closed doors and into the light of public scrutiny. I want people to be able to look over my shoulder and check that the Commission is really dealing with the issues that most concern them.
We have started as we mean to go on. Wherever possible, the new Commission will aim to match the best European practice. We have many examples to follow, and we will try to follow the best. For example, I am considering making a register of my correspondence available for public inspection in line with what is done in the most open countries in Europe. And the new Commission will be putting much more effort into communicating properly with the citizens of Europe, giving them open access to information. Transparency is vital for the democratic health and accountability of the European Union."@en1
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