Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-006"
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"en.20030702.1.3-006"2
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"President Cox, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the Italian Presidency is beginning at a critical point in the life of the Union. It has the tough but exhilarating task of carrying through the revision of the Union’s founding Treaties and delivering the first European Constitution. Indeed, the six months of the Italian Presidency will see the start of the Intergovernmental Conference, which will work on the basis – the ‘good basis’ to quote the Thessaloniki Conclusions – of the draft Constitutional Treaty drawn up by the Convention. The Convention is Europe’s first experience of a constitution-building process. We should therefore not underestimate the impact of the word ‘Constitution’ on our European life, which has made it possible to achieve results that appeared quite unattainable a while ago. The Charter of Fundamental Rights will be enshrined in the Constitutional Treaty. The Union will have a single legal personality: this considerably strengthens its international status. Defining the powers of the Union will allow the citizens to distinguish more clearly between the competences of the Union and those of the Member States.
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, the toughest challenge we face is to restore the conditions for vigorous, balanced, enduring economic growth in the Union. The situation is difficult: economic growth has slowed down significantly, although I do not believe there is any reason to speak of deflation. At the same time, we must tackle the reform of Europe’s social security system too. Competition from our trading partners and the ageing of our population make such reforms extremely urgent. However, before us there is also a great, unique opportunity: an integrated Single Market of almost half a billion people. I do not think we have realised what a powerful tool we have for the future.
It is therefore crucial that we give practical thought to instruments for strengthening coordination of the Union’s economic and fiscal policies, so that we can tackle the difficulties together and exploit together the enormous advantages the Union offers. The Commission is aware of how serious these challenges are and, in recent months, it has proposed two initiatives, which the European Council strongly supported. Firstly, we proposed – and our proposal was taken up – to utilise all the flexibility in the Stability and Growth Pact so each country can adapt its fiscal policy to its own economic situation, without losing sight of the stability objectives and without overshooting the 3% limit laid down in the Pact. As I have said on a number of occasions, this was necessary but not sufficient. We need to move towards a period of closer coordination, and tax policies in the Member States – particularly those with the highest public debts – need to become more sustainable in the long term. Secondly, at the Brussels European Council last March, I raised the issue on behalf of the Commission of the need to give fresh impetus to completing the infrastructure necessary for European development and for supporting research, increasing spending to reach our target of 3% of the Union’s GDP, as, moreover, is provided for in the goals we ourselves set at Lisbon. At the same European Council, I voiced my concern that investment in research in the Member States has actually, without a doubt, declined compared with last year, while Europe’s major firms are transferring a growing proportion of their research outside Europe. Hundreds of thousands of our brightest talents are leaving Europe to work – and stay all their lives, unlike the Asians, who return home – in the United States.
That is why the Commission has decided to react. In conjunction with the European Investment Bank, it is finalising an initiative to help to increase overall investment and private-sector participation in two key areas – trans-European networks and research and development projects – with a view to achieving the Lisbon targets. We want to mobilise and coordinate all the Union’s current sources of funding and explore possible alternatives, without jeopardising Member States’ budget stability. The Commission is pleased to note that the Italian Government has recently expressed its firm support for this strategy.
Lastly, we need to speed up the approval of proposals prepared by the Greek Presidency but not yet approved. Approval of these measures in the course of the Italian Presidency will help to improve the Union’s economic and social outlook. In particular, the proposed legislation concerns the following fields: temporary-employment agency work, take-over bids, measures in the wake of the ‘Prestige’ disaster, security of gas and electricity supplies, the second rail services liberalisation package, environmental liability rules, implementation of the 10-year action plan for people with disabilities, due to be presented by the Commission during the Italian Presidency, public procurement rules, the creation of the Single European Sky, the extremely important, impatiently-awaited directive on traceability of GMOs, the finalisation of the Directive on the European Patent, harmonisation of asylum procedures, the status of refugees, and, lastly, the
Agreement with the ESA on the development of the European Space policy. I am confident that, with the help of the Italian Presidency and with your own help, President-in-Office, we will be able to adopt speedily the practical decisions needed to achieve these goals. Economic recovery is not just about reform: it also calls for confidence that proposals can be put into effect quickly.
President Cox, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, these are the main challenges we must meet in the coming months. We are about to lay the foundations of a completely new Europe, and these foundations are political and economic, not just constitutional. The Commission is working to preserve and consolidate a strong and prosperous Europe that is also just and inclusive. The greatness of the European project lies precisely in its capacity to foster and extend peace, democracy, justice, prosperity and solidarity.
Lastly, the Commission has fulfilled its responsibility to launch a wide-ranging internal debate on the post-2006 Financial Perspective. In the autumn, we will be presenting our political project for the enlarged and reformed European Union for discussion at the December European Council under the Italian Presidency. The forthcoming Financial Perspective represents a crucial stage in the European project. By 2007, the Union will have a new constitutional framework, in all likelihood 27 Members and a population of almost 500 million.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are at a crucial time in the Union’s history. A time that calls for unity and a strong commitment to cooperation among all the Community institutions and between the institutions and the governments of the Member States. I am confident that we will find the right solutions to the great issues facing Europe today. This calls for vision and conviction. For vision, because we really are laying the foundations for the Europe of decades to come, and we cannot accept short-term solutions that merely respond to the – albeit difficult – current economic climate. For conviction, because Europe is not just one of several options, one of a number of different alternatives. Europe is the only way forward: without Europe, our countries and societies will be irreversibly relegated to a marginal role.
Italy has been there since the start of the European integration project and has always played an extremely important role. Think of the Treaty of Rome, think of the preparation of the Single European Act, think, on a more general note, of the enthusiasm and conviction with which Italy has helped to achieve the major goals of European integration, starting right here in this House with great Parliamentarians such as Altiero Spinelli and Emilio Colombo. We are all confident that Italy will continue unhesitatingly along that path.
I have never pretended, however, that I was happy that certain reforms I consider indispensable – and which many have called for – have been tackled too timidly or not at all. In September when
the
Intergovernmental Conference
opens, the Commission will accordingly be putting the key issues still unresolved on the negotiating table with its opinion. Qualified-majority voting has been extended to many areas but not enough to meet the needs of an enlarged Union: there are other areas where unanimity should no longer be required. The Union can hardly function effectively if decision-making calls for unanimity among 25 Member States: it would be impossible.
The proposed arrangements for the make-up of the Commission do not reconcile the need for representativeness and the need for efficiency. A permanent presidency
of the European Council is likely to bring overlapping and conflicts with the Commission.
The euro, one of the Union’s greatest political achievements – maybe the greatest – is still not represented effectively and coherently on the international stage. Clauses also need to be inserted on amending the Constitution by an enhanced majority. I cannot see how the Constitution can be adapted to the Union’s new requirements without a procedure for amendments based on majority voting. No reform is possible on the basis of unanimity.
Lastly, a more democratic and efficient institutional framework, which should come out of the Intergovernmental Conference, is vital, not least for an economic and social policy and a foreign policy with more clout. The Commission has the political will, the arguments and, if I may say so, the enthusiasm to press these points home forcefully.
President Cox, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the other major challenge of the next six months is to press ahead with the building of ‘Greater Europe’ and to implement the new neighbourhood strategy. As we push on with enlargement, we also need to fully implement the pre-accession strategy for the candidate countries. The Commission is working actively on this. The aim is for this process to work well to the benefit of our fellow citizens and the Member States, both current and acceding. With the momentum provided by the Thessaloniki Council we can also continue to forge an ever-closer partnership with the Balkans, without which this phase of the enlargement process can never be considered to be complete.
At Thessaloniki, we agreed on an agenda to take the Balkan countries to full membership of the Union. I am sure that the Italian Presidency will do its utmost to keep this region at the top of the Union’s priorities. I am pleased that the strategy I proposed, the development of a ring of friendly countries, is starting to produce the anticipated results, and I welcome the unanimous support of the Heads of State and Government for this long-term European Union policy. In this context, it is vital that we move on to the practical phase of the new neighbourhood strategy without delay, with specific action plans and new systems of assistance. We are preparing a number of proposals along these lines for Parliament and the Council to consider and develop. In particular, as regards the Mediterranean region, I hope the Euro-Mediterranean Bank and the Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue will be in place by the end of the year. As you said, President-in-office, the European Union made an invaluable contribution to the drafting of
the
roadmap, alongside the United States, Russia and the United Nations, and it must also play a key role in its implementation.
We will continue to pay close attention to transatlantic relations. The recent EU-US Summit in Washington marked an important milestone in our relations with the United States. Quite apart from the matters discussed – and the discussions proved to be amongst our meatiest in recent years – the most important aspect was the firm determination displayed on both sides to reestablish a climate of cooperation and solidarity. I am not saying there are no differences in our viewpoints and approaches to particular issues, but even where this is so, the strength of our relationship cannot be called into question. As I said at the Summit, our goals are the same, even if we seek at times to achieve them in quite different ways. Perhaps the clearest example of this fact is the relationship between the United States and the European Union in the field of international trade. Both sides want fewer barriers and better access to markets, fairer trade and clearer rules that are also appropriately tuned to encouraging the poorest countries.
On some of these topics our practical approaches are different, but this does not stop us having a close, ongoing relationship that allows us to work round our differences, nor does it stop us working together to achieve a positive outcome in the multilateral talks within the World Trade Organisation. I want to make this quite clear, for all this is possible because the Union speaks and negotiates with a single voice in trade matters. It makes it a powerful, influential partner, which it is most certainly not in areas where competence is divided and fragmentary."@en1
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