Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-099"
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"en.20040721.6.3-099"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is a bold and unprecedented experiment.
Thirdly, I will maintain a regular dialogue with Parliament. As well as coming to speak to you about the state of the Union at your first plenary session each year, I will be regularly attending the Conference of Presidents.
Your commitment and active support are essential if the Commission is to be at its most effective and Europe is to play a front-line role. You are the voice of the peoples of Europe. I need your support because Europe needs a strong, credible and independent Commission. I pledge to work actively for Europe to be much more than just a market. I want a Europe that is also social and cultural. Culture must remain at the heart of our partnership for Europe.
Let us together open a new chapter in European integration and give clear voice to our common desire to work for the benefit of Europe’s citizens. We must not be afraid of the future: the future is in our hands. Let me say in conclusion, as one politician speaking to other politicians, that I fully understand the historic responsibility of this very special moment. It is essential that this enlargement is a success. Europe must be a success.
If I am speaking of the Commission’s role, it is not because I am already defending my territory or my institution, but it is because, on the strength of my experience, I believe that the Commission can be the system’s great mediator. That it can play the part of honest broker between the various institutions. In this regard, I also want to tell you that we need political direction. We all have political ideas, and just as we have political ideas, friends and allies, we also have adversaries. Finally, I also want to add that if I am elected I want to work with all of you. I shall of course be closer to those who, like myself, support the advancement of the European agenda and are for the European Union. What I want to say to you, however, is that I shall not be the President of the right against the left or of the left against the right. I will not be the President of one part of Europe against another part of Europe, because I am convinced that my election will allow a bridge to be built between the founding members and the new members of Europe, between the richer and the poorer, between the countries at the centre and those on the periphery, between the larger countries and the smaller countries, because we need them all. I promise to work with everyone for the good of our Europe. Thank you for your attention.
The Commission itself is a unique institutional innovation, as befits the European journey. A strong Commission must be open; it must consult and listen in continuous dialogue with civil society, the social partners and the regions. To do all this, the Commission relies on the quality and independence of its members and the talent and dedication of its staff.
I can assure you today that I am determined, with your support, to preside over a Commission that will work as a team, bringing together a variety of talents and skills, the best that national traditions have produced, and that the Commission will have to meet the highest standards of excellence in public life. With that in mind, I want the next Commission to have a greater proportion of women than any previous one.
We need to give the Council an understanding of how necessary this is, since it shares with me the responsibility for drawing up the list of candidates for the posts of commissioner. I shall exercise the full extent of my powers under the treaties as regards the selection of future commissioners, the allocation of portfolios at the start of and during their terms of office, and the direction of their work. The importance of collective responsibility will also have to be fully recognised and we shall have to ensure that this college, with its twenty-five members, will be able to act swiftly, effectively and coherently. Quite apart from that, one thing that must be clear is that there will be no first and second-class commissioners in the Commission over which I shall preside.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission and Parliament must work together in a positive spirit, while respecting each institution’s competences. I therefore give you my firm commitment to cooperate closely with Parliament in complete transparency and always to take account of your views, even when we disagree. I promise you three things in particular:
Firstly, if a commissioner is clearly not up to his or her job or he or she fails in his or her obligations under the Treaty, I will not hesitate in asking him or her to resign.
Secondly, I recognise the importance of the democratic control exercised by Parliament. I shall therefore endeavour to provide you quickly with all the information you need for the purpose. I also promise to inform you about documents sent to the other institutions and about the consultative bodies used by the Commission."@en1
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