Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-16-Speech-3-067"
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"en.20020116.6.3-067"2
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"Mr President, I hope that you will not start shortening my speaking time.
Mr President, we must use these six months to make the European Union stronger in the world, participating in international debates by means of the common position. To this end, it is not just necessary to move ahead with the institutional reforms of the CFSP in order to make it more efficient and visible inside and outside our borders, but we must also improve the instruments which the European Union already has, such as the Community external service.
There is no doubt that numerous challenges await us over the next six months, which will demand effort and cooperation from all of us: citizens, European institutions, governments and political parties. We fully trust that this Presidency will represent a step towards a larger and more united Europe, which is more open to the world and closer to the citizens.
I believe that the debate we are holding today clearly demonstrates that we are at a decisive point in terms of European integration. And I therefore believe that the ambitiousness of the Spanish Presidency’s objectives – any one of them could be described as historic – quite rightly reflects this fact. The truth is that the decisiveness, or even enthusiasm, with which 300 million European citizens have taken on board the euro, suggests that we can look to the future with optimism.
The European Parliament, as an expression of popular will, must now demonstrate its ability to play its role of providing the debate with impetus, a role which has particularly been recognised over the last six months of the Belgian Presidency and as the Spanish Prime Minister has stressed this morning.
We have provided the Commission and the Council with inspiration, for example, in order to provide the justice systems of the Member States with Community instruments which make the defence of freedoms in the face of terrorism more effective. Since the beginning of this legislature, it has been made clear in this House, more than in any other place, that terrorism is a problem and a threat to everybody, and not only to the direct victims.
Therefore, the fact that the Presidency-in-Office of the Council has said that it is necessary to improve the codecision procedure in the next reform of the Union Treaty is an acknowledgement that we should be grateful for.
We are going to deal with this reform by means of the method which was used to draw up the Charter of Fundamental Rights – which my Group hopes will be incorporated into the new Treaty - that is to say, by means of a Convention which will be inaugurated in March in the headquarters of Parliament, as has been revealed to us this morning.
We trust that that positive attitude from the Council will be maintained throughout the work of the Convention, so that we can respond to two needs: firstly, to bring the Community institutions closer to the citizens by making them more democratic, more efficient and more transparent; and secondly, by undertaking a profound reform of an institutional framework designed for the six founding States, adapting it to a reality in which there are 25 or more Member States, which we hope to see in 2004.
Ladies and gentlemen, the negotiations for the enlargement of the European Union – some of the most important chapters of which, as has been said, will be dealt with in the coming months – should not in any way become polluted by domestic debates. On the contrary, in the current Member States, government and opposition should leave aside party-political confrontation in the face of this great Union objective.
Mr Barón, we must bear in mind that the success of a Presidency is not measured in national terms, or much less party-political terms. This morning you recognised that you need to take a few classes. I fear that you do not only need computing classes. You spoke like a Spanish Socialist. I trust that you will show the same loyalty that the European Popular Party showed to the two previous Presidencies."@en1
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"(Protests from the PSE Group)"1
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