Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-142"
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"en.20000412.4.3-142"2
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"Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, what are the issues at stake in this Intergovernmental Conference? Manifestly, the first and main issue is the quality of the decision-making process in the Union. Here we attach the utmost importance to extending the scope of qualified majority voting.
If we were certain that tomorrow every decision could be taken by a qualified majority in the European Union, we would not have raised the question of closer cooperation. But we have to acknowledge that undoubtedly we will also need this instrument. That is what this Parliament said when it first stated its position and I think that in a way we have helped persuade the community of Heads of State and Government to listen to our refrain. Of course we can only be delighted at this.
But today I want to address those MEPs who see, behind this closer cooperation, the risk of too far-reaching consultation between the large countries. It seems to me that at present it is in the interest of all the members of the Union that any closer cooperation within the Union should be established on a basis of respect for the Union’s legal system and institutions. To that end, let us authorise closer cooperation when one third of the Member States takes part or is involved, and let us authorise this closer cooperation by a qualified majority, after obtaining Parliament’s assent. Tomorrow we will certainly have to consider the question of the democratic scrutiny of this closer cooperation, an area where our Parliament will have to play a major role.
So I understand why the Intergovernmental Conference will look into these questions and I am glad the discussions are thus going to the heart of the matter. But you will find these same questions coming up again in other discussions you will be holding during the Intergovernmental Conference.
Let me make one more point before concluding, Madam President. I want to sound the alarm about the progress in drafting the Charter of Fundamental Rights we want to see incorporated in the Treaty. It is most important to incorporate that Charter. At a time when the values of the Union are at times being overturned or seem undermined, that Charter is coming at just the right moment; but it will be meaningful only if it is incorporated in the Treaty and has real substance, based on the Cologne mandate, the entire Cologne mandate, i.e. only if it includes economic and social rights."@en1
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