Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-19-Speech-3-014"
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"en.20031119.1.3-014"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have taken good note of the complicated statement of the President-in-Office of the Council. To put it clearly, what you want is for the text not to be touched. Amongst other things, it cannot be touched: if 80% are in agreement and then there are 150 amendments which are not supported by a sufficient majority, your duty is to maintain it. Furthermore, we must remember the governments that were present and participated in the Convention. The problem is that they have now locked the doors and left Parliament and the Commission outside.
The members of the Convention from the Socialist family met last week and we reached the conclusion that we do not want any backtracking in relation to the Convention. We expect there to be progress and improvements – we agree on that – and our priorities are: firstly, that the binding nature of the Charter of Fundamental Rights should not be called into question; that the secular nature of European integration is a founding principle, and, in this regard, we believe that the text of the Constitution is absolutely correct and must not be modified.
We also believe that the legislative powers, not only of Parliament but also of the Council, must not be weakened in the legislative field or in the budgetary field, and we believe that the legislative Council must be maintained. We also believe that the economic and social governance of the Union should be turned into a reality, which means that the progress made in the first part of the Constitution should be reflected in the third part, dedicated to the Union’s policies, and furthermore that the legal basis for the protection and development of public services must be maintained, and then it will be able to be enshrined in a framework law.
With regard to the issues which you have pointed out and which were dealt with yesterday, the Foreign Minister must be a member and Vice-President of the Commission. With regard to the review, you yourself have said that the Danish Government – and Denmark was the home of Hamlet – after opting-out, wants to opt-in. We must not close doors; we must provide the possibility of review.
With regard to an issue which was raised yesterday by President Prodi, which is highly topical, we believe, specifically with regard to the budgetary powers – and we address this to Ecofin – that it is time for Ecofin to have a Community culture. Perhaps we should give the Finance and Economics Ministers a copy of the Treaties. We cannot systematically act on an intergovernmental basis.
Furthermore I would like to stress that Parliament, with regard to the budget, is as responsible, or even more so, as the Council, and we have demonstrated this repeatedly. It is unacceptable to try to modify the Treaties by this means. I believe we should protest and demonstrate our indignation very clearly to Ecofin, which has taken ten years to accept the Delors plan for infrastructures. Why has this been paralysed for ten years? Why does Ecofin have power over the European Council? I believe that this issue is absolutely fundamental for all of us.
Mr President, I will end by mentioning a topical issue, the issue of enlargement. I would agree with the comments of Commissioner Verheugen: I would say to our current members, because they are already here, that we voted for the Treaty of Nice in Parliament because we wanted enlargement, not because we liked the Treaty. We never liked the Treaty of Nice. But what we cannot now say is that France and Germany understand each other, after centuries of concern for Europeans because France and Germany were enemies. I believe that we should show the minimum of coherence.
I would ask the Commission to maintain its approach in order to demonstrate that nobody is privileged with regard to pacts, and I am referring to the Stability and Growth Pact. I believe, Mr President, that that message should be made absolutely clear to the Conference. Maintain your position so that we may have a Constitution for all Europeans."@en1
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