Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-254"
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"en.20050511.20.3-254"2
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".
Mr President, I think that we as Members of this House have the duty to find out about the exact starting time of debates, and there is no excuse whatsoever for absence. We have sufficient means of finding out when we could attend a debate here. In addition, I should in all honesty say that since only on a rare occasion does the Commission respond to my pertinent questions, I am not all that interested in the Commission position. That is just by the by.
I have been both amazed and amused by the nervous tone of the question that the Committee Chairman, Mr-Leinen, has put. It betrays the fear of an outspoken advocate of the Constitution that one of this Constitution’s most striking innovations, namely the advent of a European External Affairs Minister, will turn out to be the intergovernmental Trojan horse. It appears that this minister and his administrative machinery, the European External Action Service, are now also causing doubts in the minds of those in favour of him, but it is far too late for that. In
of Friday, 6 May, Henry Kissinger clearly indicated that the creation of one telephone number will not solve the lack of common external policy. I can, in fact, recommend that article to you all. What matters, after all, is the content of what will be said when the telephone rings.
Once again, the European Union is making the classic mistake of cushioning the lack of political agreement with purely institutional measures. An honest analysis of these institutional measures reveals that the much-praised, but very unfortunate, construction of the double hat is disturbing the institutional balance among the European institutions. The advent of a European External Affairs Minister goes against the important maxim that the various institutions operate independently of one another. Indeed, paragraph 7 of Article I-26 stipulates that members of the Commission must not receive any instructions from any government, institution or body. It appears that this provision does not apply to the Commission’s future Vice-President. I would defy all advocates of this new role to refute this.
This minister, but also the European External Action Service, will be a constant source of interinstitutional tension, and I have not even mentioned the funding of the officials employed in that Service, and relations with national diplomacy, to which we have devoted another fine hearing, ending in many question marks. Mr Leinen doing the splits, however, is small beer compared to the athletic acrobatic skills that the future minister and leader of the external service will need to display.
As a fervent opponent to this Constitutional Treaty, I hope that it will be rejected in France, just as it will be in my own country. Should that not happen, there will be a continuing need for close monitoring on our part of this dangerous adventure called the European Union."@en1
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