Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-049"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040721.2.3-049"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, one quarter of the Netherlands is below sea-level so you have a long history of trying to keep dry! I suspect that your presidency will be about digging channels and containing the tides - tides such as the challenge of funding the new enlarged European Union, the deepening importance of rebuilding our economic strength, the ebb and flow of the dangers of international terrorism.
Nor do we all agree on the correct level of funding for the European Union over the next seven years, but we do share a commitment to ensuring value for money and focusing on the Union's key priorities. If this presidency can publish guidelines and principles for the negotiations in December we will have the basis for an intelligent debate on future financial perspectives.
Liberals and Democrats share your realism, but we hope it comes with a ballast of ambition and vision. You must decide on questions which will define the future of our Union. Mr President-in-Office. We are relying on your leadership to keep this ship afloat and keep it steaming, just as impressively as Manet's 'Steamboat Leaving Boulogne', which is on show at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
You need to inherit some of the momentum of your predecessor, without being caught in its shadow. The Irish presidency has passed one crucial legacy to yours: the European constitution. Liberals and Democrats in this House will lead the way in campaigning for the constitution and we expect every one of Europe's governments to be in the vanguard. If we cannot sell it, it was not worth a single glass of Justus Lipsius champagne.
For the rest of the work that you have set, time is short. With the summer recess and a new Parliament and Commission rushing to find their feet, you must achieve in three-and-a-half months what many presidencies struggle to achieve in six. We look forward to working with the good team that you have in Mr Nicolaï and his colleagues.
Liberals and Democrats in this House welcome your commitment to renewing the economic reform agenda. We agree that the need now is to focus more on better implementation and less on new regulation. The foundation of social cohesion in Europe is a strong and dynamic economy. With careful consideration for the needs of local and regional economies the single European market can be a tide that can lift all of our boats.
An important part of this is the credibility of the euro and the eurozone. We joined your presidency in welcoming the principle at the heart of last week's ruling by the European Court of Justice that a pact is a pact: that Member States cannot and should not break with impunity the rules they set for themselves. We will be watching closely to see that a rethought Stability Pact can command the respect of big and small states alike.
We welcome your commitment to push ahead on the justice and home affairs agenda. We welcome the launch of a debate on the best way to integrate our migration controls, closing the door to illegal migration while protecting those who justly flee oppression. But we need qualified majority voting and codecision in asylum, immigration and judicial cooperation as provided for in Article 251 of the Treaty.
My group also agrees that Member States have to work together better to tackle terrorism, but we remain suspicious of the Council's intent to employ biometric identifiers widely. Too many of our questions about fallibility, cost-effectiveness and privacy have not been properly answered. You must not pre-empt the decisions of Parliament in these matters.
Yours is also the presidency that will oversee the nomination of the new Commission. Last week my group asked the Commission President-designate to commit himself to striving for a better gender balance in the Commission. But in reality this is your job, Mr President-in-Office. Liberals and Democrats in this House want a Commission that is at least one-third women. We might remind you that if the gender balance of the Council reflected that of Europe itself, it would be thirteen to twelve.
We need a debate on Turkey. Let us have that debate, openly and frankly. What we are committed to is hearing out the Commission when it makes its recommendation in November, and we expect the Council to do the same."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples