Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-11-Speech-2-159"
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Madam President, the Johannesburg Summit constitutes a further step forward in the process begun in Rio de Janeiro aimed at achieving sustainable development at world level.
On the level of the fifteen Member States, the debates have focused on the following issues, which must be resolved at the General Affairs Council of 17 June, immediately prior to Seville: firstly the coherence of Community policies, without prejudice to the adaptation of Community policies to the internal and external objectives of sustainable development. We must prevent the Johannesburg Summit dictating the nature of the reforms of Community policies. Secondly, the removal of subsidies prejudicial to the environment. Although chapter 2, on trade, achieved a formula for compromise, reducing and, where necessary, removing subsidies considered harmful to the environment, there is still no consensus amongst the Member States on the obligatory or automatic nature of the removal of those subsidies. The Council will also refer to the Swedish initiative of the ombudsman to facilitate exports from the developing countries to the Community market. A more in-depth study is required before it can be accepted and included at the Johannesburg Summit as a Community initiative. To this end, the Commission has committed itself to presenting a document in the future to deal with the possible implementation of that initiative.
Financial issues, such as those relating to the possible link between funding and the future initiatives established during the Johannesburg Summit, will also be dealt with, and these financial issues are those which are essential so that the additional official development aid resources, agreed to during the Monterrey Conference, are implemented or allocated to the initiatives established in Johannesburg.
The mobilisation of alternative funding resources, with the intention of combining alternative resources, such as the so-called Tobin tax, with global public assets and the possible extension of the ‘Highly-indebted poor countries’ initiative.
Secondly, I will comment on the perspectives in the run-up to the Seville European Council. The Presidency has done much work in preparing for the Johannesburg Summit. The European Union must make a very significant contribution to this summit and demonstrate a great capacity for leadership, because we are world standard bearers for sustainable development. I believe that the ratification by the Union of the Kyoto protocol offers proof of this and furthermore because the international preparation of the summit clearly requires European leadership.
At the moment there is disunity at international level and there is a lack of clarity in the intended objectives for the summit. PREPCON 3 was disappointing and the new proposed action programme must have greater consensus and must be more specific.
The United States wants to minimise political issues as much as possible and would even like to remove the political declaration and the action programme in order to concentrate on implementation. Furthermore, the United States’ focus in relation to implementation is innovative: it wants to create new ‘transfunds’ which can bring together public and private money, which is rejected by several European partners.
The Presidency believes that the European Union should play a role similar to the one it played in Monterrey: to seek consensus with our main partners. As soon as possible we must coordinate our efforts with JUSCANZ, the group made up of the USA, Japan and Canada, and with the Group of the 77. Maximalism and political confrontation get us nowhere.
Monterrey was a success, because the European Union worked throughout for a consensus, and if practical results were achieved to benefit developing countries, then in Johannesburg we must try to do the same. If we do not achieve this, the ghost of Durban and the problems during that summit will weigh heavily on Johannesburg. One-thousand-five-hundred non-governmental organisations are going to participate, some of which are very radical. Some seem more interested in confrontation than in achieving concrete results which benefit the developing countries.
At the PREPCON 4 in Bali, we have tried to reach consensus on a short action programme with a clear focus. A political declaration must be very short, very clear and prevent confrontation, and must be aimed at implementation and practical issues.
In this respect, it is important that the European Union has a communication strategy with which to confront the Johannesburg Summit. We must have a clear vision of what we want in Johannesburg and of how we want to communicate that vision to world public opinion, but above all European public opinion, which, as I said before, has led the way on all these issues.
In Rio, the so-called Agenda 21 was defined, which contains the fundamental objectives to be achieved during this century. Nevertheless, although important progress has been made, the global environment has continued to deteriorate significantly.
Finally, the presidency believes that the global pact which we intend to create on the basis of the results of Monterrey, Doha and Johannesburg, must be founded on the principles of democracy, respect for human rights and good government.
The developing countries must respond to the financial efforts of the developed countries by combating corruption and acquiring firm democratic values.
Johannesburg will bring together all the States, all the interested parties, the NGOs, the private sector etc., to draw up new mechanisms for achieving that objective.
This summit is intended to deal jointly with the economic challenges – development in the sense of pure economic growth – the social challenges – the reduction of poverty, achieving the aims of the United Nations Millennium Declaration – and the environmental challenges. The understanding is that these three challenges are interrelated.
The results of the Johannesburg Summit are expected to include the following elements: a political declaration which represents a renewed commitment by world leaders to achieve the objectives of the Millennium Declaration and the shortcomings in the application of Agenda 21, an action programme with fundamental action commitments, voluntary cooperation initiatives which involve all agents, governments, civil society and the private sector in a series of initiatives to implement the action programme.
The European Union is actively working on the six priorities for Johannesburg in the areas of health, water, energy, trade, global public assets and sustainable models for production and consumption.
I will firstly comment on the preparatory work done during the Spanish Presidency.
During this period there have been two preparatory conferences at world level, held in New York: PREPCON 2 and PREPCON 3, and on 24 May the last preparatory conference began in Bali, PREPCON 4, which includes the ministerial meeting of 4 to 7 June.
Meanwhile, in Brussels the Community positions have been prepared by means of a process made up of the following stages: the conclusions of the Environment Council of 4 March which were endorsed by the Barcelona European Council, the conclusions approved by the Development Council on 30 May and, finally, the conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 17 June, based on the previous ones and on the results of PREPCON 4, which will be adopted by the Seville European Council as the European Union’s global position for Johannesburg."@en1
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