Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-034"
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"en.20070314.4.3-034"2
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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, following our debate on the Berlin Declaration, I should like to inform the House of the results of the Spring Summit. I shall do so gladly, and may I say at once – although it has just been remarked that we are too ready to sing our own praises – that, from the point of view of the Presidency – from my point of view – this was indeed a successful Council meeting. It provided answers in fields in which citizens – rightly, in my opinion – expect determined action at European level; it showed that, in defiance of all prophecies of doom, the EU is capable of action even following enlargement, and that the Member States – with the support and encouragement of the Commission and Parliament – are in a position to resolve their differences and set ambitious common targets – even if, of course, the individual decisions may not always be easy.
Two targets are at the heart of this Action Plan. Energy consumption within the EU is to be reduced by 20% compared to projections for 2020 through greater energy efficiency; and, crucially, the share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption is to be increased to at least 20%.
As you will remember, we did battle over whether to make the latter target binding. A number of Member States had had reservations that this target might be too ambitious. I am delighted that we could agree to make it binding in the end, as the three aforementioned targets, in particular, make clear the close interconnection of climate and energy policy. Without the efforts in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency, the EU would quite clearly be unable to meet its own climate target.
We shall adopt the same joint, fair approach when it comes to dividing up the European target into national targets as we did when we agreed on making the target for renewable energy binding. In so doing we shall have to take into account the different starting positions and potentials of the Member States, and the Commission has been called on – and has agreed – to present a proposal for this division by the end of the year.
This is not the place to describe all aspects of the energy Action Plan. As I see it, it is more important to pay tribute to the Action Plan as a whole in this House, and also to emphasise – besides the targets I have just presented – above all the strategic decisions that have been taken in the following fields, for example: the structure of the internal energy market, security of supply, international energy policy, energy research, and new energy technologies.
I should like to select one of these five examples. It will be possible to ensure security of supply in the medium and long term only if we succeed in diversifying energy sources and transport routes. This means, in specific terms, strengthening relations with the important producer countries, developing lasting external relations with regard to energy – including with the countries of Central Asia and the countries bordering on the Black and Caspian Seas – and of course also fostering our energy relations with the Gulf States and North Africa. It also means reliable, transparent energy relations, including with Russia. Consequently, our Presidency is continuing to work towards ensuring that negotiations on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia can begin shortly.
The results concerning energy policy and the fight against climate change are indeed particularly important; but, as you can see from the conclusions, the European Council did not just confine itself to these. The Spring Summit traditionally takes stock of the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, and the most important thing is that the renewed Lisbon Strategy is taking effect. There has been noticeable success, which has found expression throughout Europe in improved growth and falling unemployment rates. However, the message is also that now is not the time to sit back and relax; the contrary is the case. We want to use the positive momentum; as I see it, there is no alternative to continuing structural reforms and consistently consolidating public finances.
The European internal market must be developed and completed in important fields: once again, I give the examples of gas and electricity, postal services – and also financial markets. Last Friday’s conclusions also include the elimination of the deficit in the transposition of Community law. We have indeed made good progress on this in recent years: I would remind the House that the transposition deficit was 3% as recently as 2000, whereas it is now just 1.2% – and we know that these efforts must be continued. For this reason, the European Council decided last Friday to further reduce this deficit to 1% by 2009.
The Lisbon Strategy will only be successful in the eyes of the public, however, if the social dimension can be successfully developed – this is particularly valid in view of positive developments on the labour markets. In this connection, the Heads of State or Government have emphasised the importance of fair working conditions, worker rights and participation, health and safety at work, and a family-friendly organisation of work.
I should like to emphasise briefly one further element of the decisions: better lawmaking and cutting red tape. In this field, too, we have made some progress in the past – albeit with difficulty. Of course, however, here too – or here in particular – our efforts must not lapse in future. In particular, we want to see a 25% reduction in the administrative burdens – red tape – arising from EU legislation by 2012, and the Member States have been invited to set similarly ambitious national targets over the next year.
At the final press conference on Friday, Commission President Barroso had some – in my opinion – very kind, almost flattering words to say about the Council meeting that had just ended. He said that, in terms of the results and the objectives set, it was the most important summit he had attended in his term of office. I would also say before this House, Commissioner, that this success would not have been possible without the Commission’s excellent groundwork, nor without the support of the European Parliament – on whose behalf you, Mr Poettering, as the newly elected President, participated in your first Council meeting.
The Summit also showed that the Union is prepared to take up the pressing tasks of the future, and it gave us momentum and the courage to believe we can succeed also in reviving the flagging process of EU reform and renewal in the coming months.
The EU is on its way to developing a modern, sustainable climate and energy policy. The Heads of State or Government have shown that Europe can assume a leading role in important global issues. As I see it, the signal the Summit sends out is that, if we Europeans join forces, if we act together, we can shape the future successfully. This is entirely in keeping with the motto of the German Presidency, the guiding principle we used as a heading for our conclusions, which I also mentioned in the earlier debate: ‘Europe – succeeding together’!
This is the message conveyed by our latest Summit, which also produced the specific internal results I am just about to discuss, and we want to continue to send out this signal in two weeks’ time – as we have just been discussing – at the celebrations in Berlin and throughout Europe for the 50th anniversary of the Union. This is the impetus we wish to take with us into the second half of our Presidency.
As you know, the Spring Summit focused on energy and climate policy. Both issues are rightly very high on the list of concerns of the European people. Recent years and months, in particular – most recently the oil dispute between Belarus and Russia – have demonstrated vividly once more the extent of our dependence on energy imports and the vulnerability of the European economy in matters such as this.
Just as evident, as has also just been remarked, are the effects of climate change. Environmental disasters, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, drought – these are no longer abstract terms, but are now very real threats. International studies have demonstrated the price we shall pay – the price we shall force our children and grandchildren to pay – if we fail to act now.
You are familiar with the outcome of the discussions at the Summit, and I hope you agree with my conclusion that the decisions by the Heads of State or Government have pushed open the door to an ambitious and – in my opinion – responsible European climate and energy policy, a policy that no longer glosses over the scale of the problems we face, but rather seeks effective strategies to respond to these problems.
We have taken a major step towards an integrated climate and energy policy – integrated because the one is not possible without the other; because the greatest risk by far to the climate today is the generation and consumption of energy by human beings. This is particularly applicable, of course, to emissions of greenhouse gases. Thanks to the decisions taken in Brussels, the EU remains the forerunner in international climate protection. The decisions enable us to make a credible entry into the forthcoming negotiations on the successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.
The EU has committed itself unilaterally and independently to reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% compared to 1990 by 2020. This is an ambitious target, and reaching it will require major efforts on the part of all Member States.
The Heads of State or Government have gone even further, however. We have promised to reduce these emissions by as much as 30% over the same period, provided that we are joined by other industrialised countries and economically advanced developing countries. These targets can only be reached if we are forward-looking in our energy policy, too, and so a comprehensive energy Action Plan was adopted in Brussels along with the climate targets."@en1
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