Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-13-Speech-2-275"
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"en.20040113.11.2-275"2
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".
Firstly, on the specific point of the peace facility, at a time when we are trying to support and sustain institutionalised African solidarity, it would be quite curious for us not to try to give the maximum support to the institutions of the African Union. Therefore I agree with honourable Member on that.
Secondly, on the question of overall coherence, conceivably, things have changed since I was a British development minister many years ago. But I must say that I find that there is more coherence in the Community's programmes than there was when I was a British minister. That does not mean that we are perfect: we still have a long way to go, not least in relation to the overall field of external actions. I am not just talking about CFSP and official development assistance. I hope in the next Commission that there will be two former development ministers doing the job that Mr Nielson and I are currently doing – it would be a help.
As far as the question of a foreign minister is concerned and the temporary abeyance of the moves towards creating one following the Convention, I still believe that if this person – woman or man – is to emerge in the next few years from the IGC, it is absolutely imperative that we draw on the strengths provided by both the Council and the Commission. It does not make very much sense to have a foreign minister who is somehow cauterised from the Commission on the ridiculous argument that her/his activities may be polluted by too much contact with the Commission. It is perfectly possible to retain the integrity of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the relationship with the Council and Member States while, at the same time, drawing on all the competences for which the Commission is responsible and which, taken together, should give us a real possibility to shape an external actions strategy which meets the demand of the 21st century.
Foreign and security policy is no longer – if it ever was – the sort of agenda which is simply decided in the chancelleries of European capitals. Foreign and security policy, development policy, trade policy, agriculture policy and external policy in the justice and home affairs fields, are all relevant to Europe's impact on the rest of the world and the real positive contribution we can make there."@en1
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