Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-14-Speech-3-017"
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"en.20040114.1.3-017"2
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"Mr President, I would like to welcome the Taoiseach, Minister Roach and Ambassador Anderson this morning. I welcome the wide-ranging speech that the Taoiseach made to the House, which covered many key issues with which this House is concerned. I wish you and the Irish Government well with the very onerous agenda which it falls to you to push forward. I have no doubt that you will carry out your responsibilities with efficiency.
The most important issue, as you, Taoiseach, and every other speaker emphasised, is the draft Constitution. We all wish the IGC could have concluded in December. That it did not reflects badly on those who blocked the conclusion, and I include not only Poland and Spain in that criticism. The most important objective is to ensure that there is momentum on this issue. Europe needs this constitution, which would make the Union more democratic, more socially engaged and more comprehensible to its citizens and would enable us to play a more positive role on the world stage. But be warned, Parliament will not accept any old outcome. The constitution produced by the Convention must remain largely intact. The values, the objectives and the rights of citizens must not be diluted. Nor must the budgetary powers of this Parliament be diluted in any way.
Another key issue is the Lisbon process. Europe must advance with social progress hand in hand with economic progress. There is no time to go into detail on that issue, but it will be an example of a serious commitment by the Irish Government if it were to drop its opposition to the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, which will help to develop a flexible and adaptable workforce if we address this issue in the correct way. It affects millions of workers right across the European Union.
Finally, I urge you to take up the issue of debt cancellation for developing countries. Servicing debt costs the poorest countries more than they receive in development aid. A human development approach to debt sustainability with highly indebted countries would mean that the first call on poor countries' government resources would be expenditures needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals. For the poorest countries, this will require 100% cancellation of their debts. I know the Irish Government is committed to that issue as a government adopting the Irish approach, but I would ask you to put that onto the agenda for the other Member States in Europe and seek to ensure progress is made on it during your six months in office.
There are many other issues I would like to raise, including the Guantanamo prisoners and the appalling suffering of the Palestinian people, but time does not permit me to do so."@en1
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