Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-010"
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"en.20040331.1.3-010"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the process of European integration began life as a peace process. Over the last half century the peace objectives have evolved and stabilised, and today all the players in our united Europe share some deep-felt principles, because being part of the Union means respecting the fundamental rights of the person, regulating public life democratically, and developing and protecting our political, economic and social development model. I have been thinking about these principles a lot recently while reflecting on the internal and external challenges facing our Union, mainly because when confronted with the increasingly horrific threats of terrorism we seek common points of reference.
Ladies and gentlemen, I shall end this speech with some brief thoughts on the European Constitution, the same thoughts with which the
started his address. We have seen that external and internal challenges are threatening to undermine the pillars supporting the home that we live in together. In these difficult times we must set aside our differences and provide the European Union with the means required to build a more solid framework of cooperation, one which will allow us to make joint decisions and to pool our resources. Let us not fool ourselves: we can only confront the challenges facing Europe today if we remain united. No European country, however big and strong, has the means to do so alone.
In this respect, the Spring Council has brought us some good news, which I am pleased to be able to end on today, and it also keeps up my reputation of being the eternal optimist. All told, I have not been wrong in being an optimist in recent years. The stage was set in Brussels for the resumption of negotiations on the constitutional treaty in the near future and for their conclusion before the end of the Irish Presidency, thanks to some extraordinary mediation by the Presidency, to whom I extend my praise and admiration.
Positive signals had been arriving in recent weeks from various governments, saying that they were ready to compromise. Confirmation came during the Council that things were finally moving in the right direction – from a psychological and human point of view as well. The toughest problem to solve is still the one that caused the previous deadlock: the thresholds required for qualified majority voting. It is not just a matter of percentages, of course, but of something on which the whole future of our integration process depends: the enlarged Union must simply be able to make decisions. If the threshold required for a majority decision is too high, the Union will no longer be able to make decisions about fighting terrorism, economic governance or anything else, because a small group of countries will be able to block any proposal. That is the point, quite simply, and up to now the discussion has focused on the size of this blocking minority.
I ask you all to think carefully about the fact that one cannot have an institutional debate while thinking about the ways and means by which Member States can block any decisions. The discussion should, instead, centre on the opposite question: what are the best ways and means to make decisions, not to block them? Judging from the latest developments, another failure seems to have been averted; it therefore seems likely that we will soon have our long-awaited and beloved Constitution. Nonetheless, I appeal for the final compromise to be a good one that will allow the enlarged Union of the Twenty-Five to operate efficiently.
The European Council which closed in Brussels last Saturday followed the same instinct. As you know, the Spring Council is the focus for the economic governance of the Union. Recent events, however, led to profound changes in the agenda, principally the Madrid attacks on 11 March, in the wake of which the Council adopted a number of measures to ensure our safety against the threat of terrorism. Once again, the attack struck down innocent citizens, and once again our first thoughts must go to them and to the victims’ families. The aftermath of the attacks has affected all Europeans: it has affected us personally and it has affected our civic and political institutions. Terrorism is the worst challenge since the Second World War ever to confront both the democratic, civilised principles regulating public life and our societies themselves, based as they are on respect for human rights.
I am pleased to be able to tell this House that the Council has decided to face this threat with the greatest determination that is physically possible. The Declaration approved in Brussels leaves no room for doubt: the European Union Member States are forming a united front with the shared objective of completely eradicating terrorism. I therefore wholeheartedly welcome the measures to coordinate and unify intelligence, police and security systems that were agreed upon last weekend. At this historic stage, remember that this is the highest level of coordination possible, since it was not possible to set up a single European security agency. That would perhaps have been wonderful, but it was not feasible in practice. I am sure, however, that this is just the first step on the way to even greater integration. Looking to the future, the goal is in fact to set up joint operational structures at a European level. The most important thing at the moment, however, is that Europeans have realised that force alone is not enough to defeat terrorism. It takes force and it takes intelligence to understand and resolve its underlying causes.
Alongside the military force and repression option, we also have to follow the political route with equal determination. Both options must be pursued multilaterally, since unilateral approaches are no longer enough. First, as the Declaration solemnly states, it means strengthening the bond of mutual trust between Europe and the United States, which is already close and loyal. Without this strong alliance there can be no hope of keeping world peace. It is, however, just as fundamental to ensure that the United Nations has both a central role to play and the credibility that this requires. The UN must be actively involved in any intervention on the ground and in any political projects aiming at restoring stability in crisis regions. The European Union, for its part, has the opportunity to make the most of its experience of peace-keeping and dialogue accumulated over almost half a century of its existence. Our contribution must be to involve and mobilise the resources of all countries in order to isolate terrorist groups. The aim is to drain terrorism of its lifeblood, and that means preventing recruitment and cutting off any technical, logistical and financial support.
Terrorism also has an ideological component, however aberrant it may be, as well as a political agenda, and so it is necessary to confront the crisis situations that split the world and threaten its stability. First – and I am pleased to go along with what the
Mr Ahern, said just now – a solution must be sought to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: this is the topmost priority of all. The success of our strategy against international terrorism in fact depends on peace in the Middle East. Then we have to work towards achieving a breakthrough in Iraq. Both these initiatives – in the Middle East and in Iraq – have to be concluded and carried through under the aegis of the United Nations. The objective is, of course, to restore Iraq to the Iraqis in as short a time as possible, whilst ensuring security, independence and the highest levels of democratic involvement.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I have said, the Spring Council is devoted to the governance of the Union, and the session on the economy has further strengthened this role. For some years, however, the European economy has been in difficulty and this threatens one of the pillars of our Union: our economic and social model. Four years ago, in Lisbon, the Union decided that in order to maintain and develop our way of life we should put in place a thorough reform of our economic systems. The Council’s conclusions reveal that there is very broad convergence in analysing what needs doing, as contained in the report that the Commission submitted to you in January.
We all agree on benchmarking, coordination and the priorities to encourage growth and competitiveness. We have been repeating them for years: we need to invest in research, development and human resources. It is not enough, however, to agree on the things that need doing; we also need serious, hard work and the means to implement them, but we do not have either. Indeed, I am very sorry to say that we have not yet succeeded in progressing from words to deeds. Most of the decisions that have been taken have not yet been transformed into concrete action at Member State level, and there has not been the expected shift of resources into those investments that we all – I repeat, all – consider necessary.
These uncertainties and the paucity of financial commitment demonstrate the two basic problems with the system of governance of the European economy: on the one hand, the Lisbon process lacks a strong point of authority at Community level, which is the only way to coordinate measures; on the other, we have to reckon with the dynamics of modern political organisations. Investment in human resources and knowledge, which we all consider indispensable, does take a very long time to provide a return. The trend in politics, however, is increasingly to favour measures that produce a visible return before the end of the electoral term, which is much shorter. To be fair, I have to say that some Member States have initiated major, even painful reforms, demonstrating a sense of responsibility, foresight and political courage.
The Council has reaffirmed the need to stay on this path because everyone has realised that the future of Europe is at stake. I hope that the reforms that have been started can, this time, be finished and can be extended to the fields of knowledge, training and research. For the time being, it seems that the political will has been found to implement the European Growth Initiative quickly, which includes a raft of quickstart projects in research and development, transport, energy and information technology. These are clearly defined measures that have already been approved by the European Council and can all be put into motion quickly. Real progress is needed starting this year, and by next year we need to have made up for the delays in transposing the Lisbon directives into national laws. I am sorry to have to make these points, but I believe it is only right and proper to do so."@en1
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