Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-018"
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"en.19991117.2.3-018"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure and a great honour for me to appear before this plenary session of Parliament in my new capacity as Secretary-General of the Council and High Representative of the Union for Common Foreign and Security Policy. This is not the first time that I have appeared before you – I have done so on numerous occasions in previous roles – but it is the first time that I have done so in my new capacity. I recently had the opportunity to appear before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of this Parliament to deal with certain priority issues.
As you know, yesterday the Council received the mandate of the Member States to evaluate the situation of the democratic opposition in Serbia and, as from tomorrow, by means of the OSCE Summit in Istanbul, I will begin to work to this end, holding any meetings that are necessary.
With regard to the Balkans, I will naturally pay special attention to the elements which make up the Stability Pact. We are working together with President Prodi, Commissioner Patten and Bodo Hombach to improve the coherence and efficiency of our activities in the region. In the coming sessions we will have the opportunity to develop these points more thoroughly.
Madam President, I would also like to mention another of the Union’s priorities: the Middle East peace process. At the beginning of November I attended the ceremony in Oslo to commemorate the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin and I had the opportunity to talk to Prime Minister Barak and President Arafat. There is currently a clear commitment on both sides to negotiate seriously with a view to the global agreement which should be reached soon, with a deadline in February. I made it very clear that the Union is prepared, obviously, to offer any necessary aid and technical expertise so that this objective may be reached. In any event, I asked the Union’s special envoy, Mr Miguel Angel Moratinos, to maintain and continue the close contacts with the negotiating teams and inform us of any progress in the talks. In addition, tomorrow, I will once again be speaking with Prime Minister Barak at the OSCE Summit.
Madam President, since I took up this post I have also participated with the Presidency of the Council and Commissioner Patten in various meetings of the troika. I would like to highlight the meeting which took place in Algiers a few weeks ago, the first for several years. We had the opportunity to evaluate the situation of the bilateral talks and we agreed to move ahead with the negotiations on the association agreement.
Our request, with regard to human rights issues, received a response which I would be prepared to describe as encouraging, with the confirmation that invitations have been sent to non-governmental organisations, which are active in the field of human rights, to visit Algeria. A call was also made to take advantage of the current situation to significantly improve relations between all the Magreb countries.
Furthermore, as you know, Algeria occupies an important position at the moment. Currently, it has the Presidency of the OAU. It will therefore have a decisive role to play in the preparation of the summit between the European Union and Africa which will take place next April in Egypt. In my opinion, this meeting is of great importance since it will provide an invaluable opportunity to strengthen relations between Europe and Africa. At the moment Africa is supposedly the forgotten continent and Europe cannot pretend it does not exist.
Madam President, I will end by telling you very briefly that I have had many other fruitful meetings over the last four weeks: with the President of Colombia, who was also received in this Parliament in plenary session, with the President of Latvia, with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Cyprus, to try to see how we can generate impetus for the meetings which are certain to start on 3 December in New York. This afternoon I will travel to Istanbul to attend the summit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Earlier I referred to the question of Chechnya, which will unfortunately dominate the summit which begins tomorrow. I am sure that we will continue to put pressure on the Russian Authorities to reduce the intensity of the conflict and to make an effort to reach a peaceful solution. We will also do everything possible to persuade them to fulfil all their obligations laid down in both the OSCE Treaty and the current Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the readaptation of which will probably be approved at the Istanbul Summit.
The adoption of the charter on security in Europe, if it is signed over the next few days, will no doubt reinforce the authority of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and will make a valuable contribution to the development of a Union security policy.
Madam President, there are many other issues which I would like to discuss with you, but please allow me, for the sake of brevity, to deal with the matter of security and defence.
Madam President, I recognise that this new post will no doubt require me to deal with issues of interest and relevance, not only to certain Committees but also to the plenary of Parliament. I therefore attach special importance to this opportunity to address you as a Parliament. I am resolved and committed to working closely with all of you and to keeping you informed of any political issue which may be of interest to you. I would therefore like to express here once again, Madam President, my firm intention to appear before this House whenever it becomes necessary.
Madam President, I am prepared to describe the General Affairs Council which took place on Monday as historic. For the first time, the General Affairs Council met with the additional participation of the Union’s Defence Ministers and held a debate – an important one in my opinion – on the creation of a European policy in the field of security and defence. Its purpose was to prepare the conclusions to be adopted in this respect at the European Council in Helsinki, under the Finnish Presidency.
It has been clear for some time that, if Europe wants to occupy its rightful place on the world scene, it must have a European security and defence policy, as well as a Common Foreign and Security Policy. The crisis in Bosnia, in the first place, and the crisis in Kosovo, have illustrated the fact that we need more than mere declarations of intention. We need to be in a position to act. And this means, undoubtedly, having the military capability to do so. In my judgement, one of the decisive tasks of the Helsinki Summit will be to decide what these capabilities will be, how they must be achieved and how the Union will decide to use them.
Much progress has been made in the preparatory work, in Berlin, in Saint Malo, in Washington and in Cologne. Important steps have, without doubt, been taken at these stages. Cologne was not an arrival point but rather a departure point and I am sure that Helsinki will be a new, very important, stage in this process.
We have been moving progressively closer to a goal which I consider to be of transcendental importance. Over time the debate on defence has been becoming less abstract and more specific, more concrete. We are quickly reaching the point when we will take a decisive step forward and make our commitments a reality.
On Monday, at the General Affairs Council, the Ministers made it very clear that they had the political will to decide in Helsinki what Europe’s collective military capability should be for the purposes of the Petersberg Tasks. Judging by the debate, I am confident that a specific, clear and concrete objective will be set at the European Council. This will, in all probability, be a challenge which will demand that the Member States carefully consider the priorities and perhaps take some difficult decisions or, at least, decisions that will not be easy, on the allocation of resources. It will surely be necessary to reassess certain priorities, the common provision of resources and the multinational distribution of tasks.
I believe, Madam President, that the debate on Monday also demonstrated that the Ministers wish the Union to have the appropriate means to assess crises and also to have clear and appropriate procedures for decision making in the event that it is necessary to take action. In my opinion, this is an essential element.
We also need to take into account the contributions and interests of those allied countries which are not Members of the Union. This means that we will have to reach agreements which will allow them to express their point of view when we assess a crisis situation and we will have to put in place suitable mechanisms which will also allow them to fully participate in operational decisions if we invite them to work with us.
Madam President, all these measures must also be taken – and I must stress this – for reasons of credibility. Firstly, credibility in the eyes of our own citizens. We will not be credible if we limit ourselves simply to improving institutional and bureaucratic mechanisms. If we want our citizens and public opinion to support a European security policy, they must be convinced of our will and our ability to equip ourselves with the appropriate means.
Secondly we must be credible in the eyes of our transatlantic partners and NATO allies who are not Members of the Union. If we want them to take us seriously, we must demonstrate credibility. This means strengthening our military capabilities. If we are serious and we act seriously, our allies will also be more prepared to lend us their resources.
Thirdly, we must also be credible at an international level. We must show our capacity to respond in crises, which perhaps do not threaten our survival, but which do threaten something as crucial as our moral standing, our moral stature as Europeans.
My mandate as High Representative mainly consists of cooperating with the Member States and the Presidency and helping them to develop a common foreign and security policy. This will be my main priority. I will try – I hope – to cooperate closely with the Commission in particular, with President Prodi and with Chris Patten, who is also here with us this morning. The three of us have committed ourselves to working together and to doing so effectively. I have the support of the Member States and I hope that I will also gain your support.
I believe that the defence of our values, our way of life, our freedoms and our well-being will be achieved much more efficiently in a joint fashion rather than individually by each of our countries.
And finally, credibility also in our own eyes. We will not be able to attain this objective if we ourselves are not committed in a clear, energetic and decisive way to this end.
However, I would like to stress that security does not just involve the military elements. This is obvious. The European Council in Cologne called on the Council to examine all the aspects of security, with a view to strengthening and coordinating all the non-military instruments for responding to crisis situations. To this end, the Finnish Presidency has carried out an extraordinary piece of work, which will be reflected in a report to the European Council in Helsinki on the non-military instruments for the management of crises. I consider it very important to continue this work. We must create mechanisms which will cover the whole range, the whole spectrum of crisis management instruments, from those which are strictly humanitarian and civil to the other extreme, which relate more closely to military aspects.
Within this spectrum, we must make an effort to strengthen those instruments relating to the protection of citizens and compliance with the law, that is to say, the police instruments, the overwhelming need for which has been illustrated by recent crises. You will remember that, both in Bosnia and now in Kosovo, the problem of an international police force is still great and remains unresolved. And I know that this Parliament is particularly sensitive to this issue.
I am coming to the end. If we adopt these measures and adequately resolve these problems, I am convinced that we will make a significant contribution to the development of our Europe, to the development of our continent. We will be able, without doubt, to strengthen our security and guarantee greater cooperation from our partners and allies.
Madam President, I would like to end by repeating my deep-seated intention to work closely with this Parliament in all these areas. My main task in taking up this post is to contribute to the creation of a Common Foreign and Security Policy which is more efficient, more coherent and more active. This is the only way that we can guarantee that our Union has the influence which it deserves in any part of the world. It is the only way we can defend our values and our common interests. However, this will only be achieved through close cooperation amongst all the institutions. The support of this Parliament will be essential. Madam President, I trust that my presence here this morning is only the beginning of an effective and constructive dialogue, the results of which will benefit citizens more and more, both in the Union and in the rest of the world. Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention.
The citizens expect us to respond efficiently and quickly in the event of crises and rightly expect their concerns to be taken into account. You have a fundamental role to play in reflecting those points of view and contributing to the creation of a common foreign and security policy which is more efficient, cohesive and closer to the citizen’s concerns and which reflects the values and principles which have forged our identity as Europeans.
Madam President, this morning I would like to focus on two main questions. Firstly, I would like to bring Parliament up to date on some of the main issues which I have been concentrating on since I assumed my new role almost a month ago. Secondly, I would like to share one of my main priorities with you: the creation of a policy in the field of security and defence. I will briefly evaluate the progress made in recent days and I will review our perspectives for the future.
One of my first commitments after taking office was to attend the summit held in Russia on 22 October. I have had the opportunity to inform the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the most important points which were dealt with there, especially Chechnya, which I am sure is a source of concern for the majority of you.
As you know, last Monday, two days ago, the Council condemned the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force in Chechnya, which has caused great suffering within the civilian population and which has unfortunately forced many tens of thousands of people to disperse towards other parts of the country. The Council has asked the Russian Government to honour its obligations, laid down in international humanitarian law, to prevent civilian casualties and keep the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia open. We must continue to apply the greatest possible political pressure on the Russian authorities. They must seek a negotiated solution, a negotiated agreement through dialogue, since there is clearly no military solution to the crisis in Chechnya. The only solution must be of a political nature.
I have communicated all these concerns – which I am sure you share – to Prime Minister Putin on the two or three occasions when I have been able to speak to him, and to Mr Ivanov, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the last time being on Sunday night.
Madam President, the other region which I consider to be of special importance is south-east Europe. On 28 and 29 October I travelled to Kosovo with Commissioner Patten, which gave us the opportunity to meet with all the political leaders of both communities as well as with the representatives of the United Nations mission in Kosovo and also KFOR, the international security force in Kosovo. We stressed the Union’s commitment to the reconstruction of Kosovo and to the creation of a democratic and multi-ethnic Kosovo. We urged the local political leaders to support this process by showing firm leadership and we highlighted the importance of all the moderate leaders expressing themselves clearly and assuming their responsibilities so that there might be a chance of the reconciliation process succeeding."@en1
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