Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-046"
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"en.20040721.2.3-046"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the beginning of the Dutch Presidency is a good time to reflect on the achievements made over these years and, most of all, the commitments awaiting us in the near future.
Nevertheless, while the euro ensures our financial stability, our future growth depends on the renovation of our economic system as provided for in the Lisbon Agenda. As you know, this is still a sore point because the results are not up to expectations, but I assure you that the project would have run aground completely had it not been for our constant pressure on the Member States. We have almost reached the half-way point in this ten-year strategy and there is still a lot left to do. I am grateful to Prime Minister Balkenende for committing himself to this road, which is still the road that has given the least favourable results compared with expectations. The Commission has, however, laid a solid basis for the eventual success of the operation.
Since the Lisbon Agenda is based on both the renewal of the economy and the creation of a truly competitive knowledge society, we have, for the areas within our remit, substantially increased the funds for research, education and training in Europe. Together with the projects to create networks of excellence, we are leaving the next Commission our proposal to double the Community research budget for the period 2007-2013, thus setting all the Member States an example of strong decision-making.
On the subject of education, one of the best days in our mandate was when the millionth university student went to study abroad under the Erasmus programme. A million is an extraordinary number, and by the end of the decade we will have trebled that. Pulling down these borders helps to create the knowledge society but it will also help to develop a generation of truly European citizens, since mobility and European citizenship are closely linked, and it is especially by targeting young people and students that we are laying the basis for the Union of tomorrow. I am therefore delighted that the Dutch Presidency considers mobility and young people to be one of its priorities.
The same concept also applies to our external borders. It is essential to take full advantage of the external dimension of European policies on education, training and young people. This is why this Commission has launched the university cooperation and exchange programmes with the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Central Asia. The latest addition to this family is Erasmus Mundus, a programme of crucial importance that will bring thousands of students from all over the world to our universities and will help to restore Europe’s role as a world leader in research and higher education. This is precisely the objective that Mr Balkenende illustrated earlier, without which Europe will not be able to achieve the Lisbon objectives.
Ladies and gentlemen, having recalled some of the achievements of this mandate, let us now look at what remains for us to do by the end of October.
First, we shall continue to press ahead with the preparations for the new Financial Perspective. As you know, last week the Commission approved a legislative package that follows on from the political programme adopted last February. The strategy is simple: first we defined the political priorities for the period after 2007 and then we put on the table the schedule of the minimum financial resources needed to achieve these objectives. We focused, therefore, on the content and the political objectives and not just the financial aspects.
I am pleased with the great amount of work that has been done, because it shows we are up to the new tasks that the European Council has entrusted to the Commission. In 2007 the European Union will have over 100 million new citizens; even so, our proposal leaves the current own resources ceiling unchanged because, with strict – or rather the very strictest – budgetary discipline and careful programming, we shall even be able to raise the number of Member States in the Union to 27 while spending on average only 1.14% of gross national income.
The fact is that Europe really can make a difference, but if financial resources are lacking European added value will be zero. We have prepared our proposals with the aim of maximising the efficiency of Community spending, demonstrating chapter by chapter that one euro spent at European level yields more than one euro spent at national level. Where this is not the case, we have not made proposals.
The Union’s priorities, as the European Council has so often reaffirmed, are competitiveness, European citizenship and Europe’s role in the world. We have made these decisions very seriously, and it is our job to find the resources in the Community budget to achieve them, because they are tasks that have been entrusted to us by the European Council. All the institutions – the Commission, the Council and Parliament – have a common duty to honour their commitments and respond to the people’s expectations. If the European Union cannot keep its promises it is bound to lose its citizens’ trust.
Since 1 May 2004 we have continued our efforts for the unification of Europe. With Bulgaria the negotiations are technically over. As regards Romania, I intend to do everything in my power to advance the negotiations as speedily as possible, thus honouring the commitments made, which – I must remind you all – foresee the conclusion of negotiations in 2004, provided the country is ready. In early October, the Commission will adopt the report and opinion on the start of accession negotiations with Turkey, which will be the basis for the Council decision in December.
Later, this House will be hearing from the President designate of the next Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, and together we want to wish the new President every success. It will certainly be essential in this new phase to ensure full and close collaboration among the three institutions while respecting the prerogatives of each one. Cooperation among the three institutions is indeed a top priority, especially while the new institutions are being set up. We have worked well over these five years: we have done so much and have left the institutional structure completely renewed. It has been a great privilege for me to direct this College of Commissioners, and the people who comprise it form an extraordinary team of whom all the citizens of Europe may be proud.
I did not hesitate to accept the mandate conferred on me by the European Council in December 2002 to present this report on Turkey’s compliance with the Copenhagen political criteria and to issue an opinion on it. It would be premature to reveal its contents now, but I can only say that we are collecting analyses, facts and statements across the board. I can thus assure you that the work we are conducting is exhaustive and thoroughly objective. This total impartiality is our duty towards our governments, our citizens and the Turkish people, who hope to join us, as well as towards the people of Europe.
Ladies and gentlemen, I opened my speech by explaining why, in my opinion, the College I preside over is leaving behind a strong legacy and a renewed and vigorous institution. I have given a few reasons for saying this and I could give many more.
The Commission, however, is not just the College of Commissioners. I should like to take this opportunity to pay due tribute to all the women and all the men who keep our institution alive and make it grow every day, often in the face of incomprehension and lack of awareness. In Brussels and the other seats of the European Commission, I have found levels of excellence, competence and commitment that would be the envy of many national administrations. This will be one of the fondest memories I shall keep of my experience at the head of the Commission.
All of us, Commissioners and staff, believe in Europe and believe that the Union is the only road that will lead the continent to a future of peace, prosperity and autonomy in the world. This is our true strength.
The greatest achievement of these five years has been the final demolition of the wall that had divided the continent for half a century. A real political tour de force was completed on 1 May, and never before has the Union been able to express so well the strength of its model and the values on which it is based: peace, freedom and solidarity. I am convinced that enlargement has improved our security and the prospects for growth in the Union, and these, as Prime Minister Balkenende has said, are the problems that the Dutch Presidency is most concerned about.
Looking to the future in the wake of this success, we must complete the unification of Europe by opening the door to the Balkans. The Macedonian Government has already submitted its application to join and is now setting off along that road with determination. For Croatia the journey has already begun. The other countries will follow, each at its own pace, but the Commission will never fail to support this process, which truly rounds off the European frame of reference. Ever since the start of my mandate, I have in fact maintained that only the European Union can guarantee lasting stability and development in this part of our continent. Only the European model can help these peoples, our close neighbours, to overcome their old divisions and their old tragedies. In our new neighbourhood policy we have found an original and realistic formula for proposing a new model of ever closer relationships with our new neighbours, creating a ring of friendly countries throughout the region from Morocco to Russia. Setting up a broad, new region in political, economic and human terms was one of this Commission’s great strategic objectives. Today this objective is a political reality.
Over these five years the Commission has also promoted the economic and social renewal of the Union and has worked hard to ensure macroeconomic stability. The most important measure, without doubt, has been the introduction of the euro. The single currency has already kept its promise of stability and, in these difficult years for the world economy, our own economies have shown how well they are able to withstand external shocks. There has been no turmoil on the exchange markets and no crisis in public finances, not even in the difficult times of recent months, and inflation has remained low. Just think what would have happened if we had not had the single currency.
Lastly, we must recall that during this Commission’s mandate the text of the first Constitution for Europe was created; I have already spoken about this at length this morning.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, while the euro, enlargement and the Constitution are the most visible achievements, we must not forget the other successes of this Commission. Without listing them all, I must recall the extraordinary work that has been done on state aid and the management of the Stability and Growth Pact. In this the Commission has remained faithful to its role as guardian of the Treaties and has ensured absolute equality of treatment for all the parties involved, large countries and small countries. We can indeed discuss the rules we have been given and we can see how to change them, how to make them more suited to the new economic reality, but it is the Commission’s specific duty to apply the existing rules impartially, seeking only the common interest.
In addition, I cannot fail to recall the constant work of constructing the internal market, in which we have often had to overcome the Member States’ resistance and lack of cohesion. Thanks to this work, however, it now costs European consumers less to fly, to connect to the Internet and to make payments from one country to another in the Union compared with five years ago.
I must add that there is no genuine growth in the European project if it does not involve all the regions in the Union. Because of this measure, in recent years there has been a noticeable narrowing of the gap between the regions of Europe in terms of income and development prospects. This is an exceptional fact, because what usually happens in large economic aggregations is that, unless there is a strong policy in place, the richer areas get richer and the poorer areas get poorer. Of course, more needs to be done in future even in this direction, especially to respond to the request for solidarity voiced by the countries that have just joined the Union."@en1
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