Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-259"
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"en.20050511.20.3-259"2
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".
Mr President, I am approaching the subject from the angle of development cooperation. We regard the creation of the European External Action Service, following on from the European Constitution, as being of enormous importance. We see the establishment of this service as an important step towards a Europe that speaks with one voice and plays a more effective and coherent role in the world.
I want to focus on the significance of development cooperation policy as one of the cornerstones, and a major one, on which the EU’s external relations policy is based. Two concepts are central in this: independence and coordination.
With regard to independence, development cooperation is an independent area within the very broad range of external relations. This position will be reinforced in the new European Constitution, because development cooperation and humanitarian aid will form independent objectives, with their own legal basis. Since these areas of policy are pursued at Community level, the Commission and Parliament have a major role to play in them. It is of the utmost importance that this responsibility should remain with both institutions.
At the same time, though, coordination between the different components of external policy must improve. We are in favour of incorporating this service in the Commission’s remit, on the provision that the Council determines how the intergovernmental competences are fleshed out. Coordination between the different components is necessary for a coherent policy, which is an explicit requirement in the Constitution. That was, in fact, already the case in the Maastricht Treaty. Coherent policy must ensure that achieving the main objectives of development policy (the millennium objectives for development) is not being tripped up by another leg of external policy, such as trade policy or defence policy. We should also avoid duplication, for that is a waste of time and money. We should therefore join forces, also on the ground.
Finally, I should like to add that the funding of this service should not be at the expense of existing external policy budgets or achieving the millennium objectives.
The European External Action Service is an important new concept within European external policy, which we must shape carefully by respecting the Constitution’s provisions and the European Parliament’s rights. It is of the utmost importance that the Community model should be respected in this area and that the Commission should be able to maintain its role as executor of the policy."@en1
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