Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-02-Speech-3-020"
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"en.20000202.4.3-020"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission met yesterday morning and as an independent body and with the joint will of all the members of the College, it made political decisions of the utmost importance. It already stated yesterday that it shared the concerns expressed by 14 Member States of the Union, concerns that have been reiterated here by the representative of the Presidency. Today, on behalf of the entire Commission, I can repeat these concerns before you.
On the other hand, it goes without saying that the Commission will continue to keep a close eye on events in Austria. Indeed, the European Union would not survive without the principles of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. These are the foundations of the Union. These principles are the
of the Union and are the result and reflection of the formal commitment made by all the Member States to respect the rights of individuals and of peoples, regardless of their beliefs, origin or circumstances.
These principles form an integral part of the rule of law, and the Commission, which is the guarantor of that rule of law, will be relentless in upholding them. We will bear down heavily on even the slightest breach of the rights of individuals or of any minority.
Europe, as a Member of Parliament from one of the applicant countries said to me, is a union of minorities, and as such, it calls for everyone’s deep respect.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to make a few more brief remarks.
Founded over 900 years ago, Bologna University, my
is the oldest university in the world. On the walls of one of its most beautiful halls you can still see the coats of arms of students and professors who chose that university, so many centuries ago, as a place of learning. There are over 7000 coats of arms from the whole of Europe, ranging from Transylvania to England.
Europe already existed then: an area whose intellectual confines were unaffected by the frontiers and limits of the politics of the day; a community of shared values, ideals and knowledge. However, the fabric of European history has not only been woven with cultural interchange, the expansion of knowledge and the sharing of a robust core of common values. Alongside the university coats of arms, there are war memorials in every small village or town in Europe, which bear witness to the tragedies of our continent.
European history has been punctuated over the centuries by an unremitting sequence of wars and conflicts. Europe, a cradle of civilisation, has given rise to the most terrible atrocities ever known in human history. In recognition of this, as the first act of my presidency, I chose to visit Auschwitz, in order to say loud and clear, in the silence that is proper and fitting for such a place of memory, that Europe has not forgotten, and to repeat that the Europe of today and tomorrow is, can only be and will always be a union of freedom, law, security and peace.
Freedom, law, security and peace: this is what the European Union was and what the European Union is. This is what the most extraordinary, bold and successful political achievement of the century that just ended has been able to guarantee its citizens. This is what the united Europe wishes to offer, in the century that is now beginning, to those who are preparing to join it.
This afternoon, at this very moment, I should have been at the Université Catholique de Louvain to receive, together with the Prime Minister of France and the DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organisation, Mrs Brundtland, an honorary degree.
I will be arriving a little late at that ceremony, but there is no more fitting way of honouring a university which is one of the leading symbols of European learning than to come here, before Parliament, the supreme expression of popular sovereignty, in order to bear witness to my own passionate commitment, and that of the entire European Commission, to defending those principles which form the foundations of a united Europe.
Firstly, allow me to emphasise the Commission’s political role at times such as these.
The Commission, like Parliament, is a supranational institution of the Union, and for that very reason it has no bilateral diplomatic relations with the Member States.
It is precisely at times when the continuity, consistency and upholding of the values of the Union seem to be threatened that the Commission’s political role becomes stronger and more apparent.
Let us not forget that the Treaty of Rome does not contain any clause providing for the voluntary withdrawal or the expulsion of a Member State. This is because the logic, the very assumption underlying the extraordinary achievement
that is the European Union is that when each State becomes a member of the Union, it accepts its fundamental principles completely and forever. Moreover, the Treaties set out precise mechanisms for ensuring that these principles are respected.
From this viewpoint, the Commission would not be performing its role properly if it were to interrupt the working relationship it maintains with Austria, and with every other Member State.
Ladies and gentlemen, when one of its members is in difficulty, the whole Union is in difficulty.
The duty of a strong supranational institution is not to isolate one of its members, but instead to permanently bind it to its deep-seated values. The Commission will do its utmost to ensure that this is done."@en1
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