Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-15-Speech-3-076"
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"en.19990915.7.3-076"2
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"Madam President, given the time available, it will unfortunately be impossible to answer in sufficient detail all those questions that have been asked here, but we have made a note of them and in subsequent discussions and preparatory work, I shall try with all the means at my disposal to take account of the ideas expressed in them and provide you with additional information in a suitable manner.
Nor within the European Union do we always really need new directives. Very often it is a question of our compliance with decisions that have already been made. It is also a question of our ratification and practical implementation of UN and Council of Europe agreements in force and seeing that Member States actually comply accordingly.
It may be that, because of this air crash in Greece, I was rather more sensitive, more sensitive than usual, to your rebukes regarding a lack of co-operation, but I would like to assure you, on behalf of the Council, that we must also be confident among ourselves in the European Union that national democracy is doing the job of complementing right here among you a growing democracy for the European Union itself. They are together forming – I am sure of it and many speakers said they were too – a truly successful combination that will enable us in the future to both create a Charter of Fundamental Rights and take the Tampere meeting and the principles that lie at the heart of it forward, so that they do not remain mere official statements and that we also make progress in practical matters. I hope that in the future I may gain your confidence in this matter as well.
The question raised by several speakers on the drafting of the Charter of Fundamental Rights is, obviously, in an indirect sense, the idea behind the meeting at Tampere, as we are preparing to take a new step forward to ensure for our citizens a safer EU area than before, although the drafting of the Charter is not actually the theme of the debate at Tampere. For that a special body will be set up, a body which representatives of the European Parliament will be welcome to join.
As for European representation at Tampere, you may know that Mrs Fontaine, now presiding, will be present at the start of the meeting. In addition, we are aware of your resolution and the discussions we have had here will be taken into account.
I will move on to the questions that have actually been raised in this sitting, which I have chosen from a group of many. First, I will deal with Mr Pirker’s question regarding immigration strategy. It will be an important basis for the talks at Tampere, but there is not yet consensus in the Council on it. For that reason, it will indeed be discussed at Tampere, but we have no document prepared on the subject. As for the Eurodac Regulation, we are attempting to have it approved now during the Finnish presidential term, and you may know that we are awaiting a new report by the European Parliament on the matter.
In answer to Mr Watson’s question regarding respect for the institution of asylum and co-operation with the UNHCR, we are in full agreement on the matter. It was on this very issue that I based my own speech. I agree with you that Europe should not shut others out, but that it must be porous in its relations with the outside world. We are members of the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, and, for precisely these reasons, we are also able to create natural relations with the rest of the world.
Regarding Mr Wuori’s question, I would only like to say briefly that the country holding the Presidency respects the principle of transparency, and although he has never been a Member of Parliament in Finland, he will surely know that in Finland, as in the other Member States, the national parliament enjoys a certain autonomy, which a government representative will not interfere with in matters such as these.
Speaking on behalf of his group, Mr Seppänen raised the issue of Europol surveillance. Finland believes that the present system of monitoring will suffice for the time being, but in the future the surveillance systems must be completely improved. I also accept his remarks on electronic systems, and I promise to investigate the matter further.
To the question asked by Mr Schulz and others on the issue of the legal area and fundamental rights, I would like to state that I stressed that we must build an area of freedom, security and justice on the basis of common values, with respect for human rights and, in the same way, reinforcing the issue of non-discrimination.
I would still like to raise one particular point. I am very satisfied that in many speeches people mentioned that we do not want to make the European Union into a fortress, but want to make it an area of safety that is in natural harmony with its environment. For my own part, I would like to remind everyone that the European Union is not the same as Europe, and the world outside the European Union is not just one of poverty, hunger and despair. Obviously there are problems there, but there are also countries which have a high standard of development and which are willing to work in co-operation with us. As examples of these I would like to mention Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. I also wish to remind you that we also have duties as members of the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. The principle of democracy is that people are not just objects of the state. They are also subjects of the state, and we must remember that when we create relationships with others to work in co-operation with them."@en1
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