Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-06-Speech-3-023"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070606.12.3-023"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, Commission Vice-President Wallström, ladies and gentlemen. Mr President, I trust I may refrain from commenting on the ages of the two rapporteurs in favour of discussing the content of their speeches. I should like to express my particular thanks to the Presidency and Mr Barón Crespo, and also to Mr Brok, for the roadmap showing the way ahead for discussions on the constitutional process.
The European Union, now with 27 Member States, must improve its ability to act and to take decisions in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. As has been said, there is also a consensus on the desirability of a European Union that is more democratic and more transparent. That is why the large majority of Member States wants to retain the substance of the present Constitutional Treaty in its essentials. The majority view is that the institutional package, in particular, cannot be opened, as to do so would be like opening Pandora’s box, so to speak. The practical politics of moving forward are also important, however.
We want a result acceptable to all Member States, but there needs to be a readiness to compromise on all sides for this to succeed. I am counting on there being the common will to move Europe forward together. In this situation, we set particular store, of course, by the support of Parliament for the endeavours of the German Council Presidency to achieve a consensus at the June Summit – which is highlighted in the report.
Allow me to make some further remarks of a procedural nature and on the objectives of the German Presidency. As you know, the consultations have now reached the crucial phase. The dialogue is now mainly being conducted by the Council President, Chancellor Merkel, but also by German Foreign Affairs Minister Steinmeier in a personal capacity. Mr Steinmeier will be informing the House tomorrow about the preparations for the June European Council. As the high-level consultations are still going on, it is too early to present Presidency proposals with any specific content as yet. As I see it, the Council intends to, and can, present such proposals only at a later stage.
Our aims for the June European Council are the achievement of clear guidelines in terms of content for the planned Intergovernmental Conference, and a very precise schedule. The Intergovernmental Conference is to be brought to a close in political terms in 2007 under the Portuguese Presidency. The Treaty is to be signed by the start of 2008 at the latest, thus leaving sufficient time for it to be ratified in all the Member States – and this before the 2009 elections to the European Parliament, of course, which is the important point. Previous talks have revealed a broad consensus on this timetable, for which Parliament’s roadmap, too, makes a call. If we are to keep to this timetable, it is also important that Parliament deliver its opinion pursuant to Article 48 before the summer recess.
I repeat, however: the Presidency is acting as mediator. We need a result acceptable to all. We are holding talks with all the Member States, Parliament and the Commission. I know that much effort at persuasion and much mediation remain to be done, but I am confident. If all 27 Member States always speak of the common challenges, as they did most recently in the Berlin Declaration, I assume this means that all 27 of them want to see success.
The conclusions provide important support for further action by the Council Presidency in the run-up to the June Summit. The support of the European Parliament is also essential for success, and it is important to have Parliament’s full involvement in the discussions on treaty reform. As has been mentioned, Parliament must therefore have sufficient involvement also in the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference.
Mr President, I should like to express once more my very warm gratitude for the constructive cooperation we have enjoyed, which is also reflected in the report presented today. I consider this a balanced report: it strikes the necessary balance between an ambitious result for the European Union and the realism with which this issue has to be approached.
On the one hand, we neither can, nor do we want to, ignore the public vote in France and the Netherlands; on the other, however, the majority of Member States does want to retain the substance of this Treaty. Therefore, I should like to highlight once more at this juncture the special role of the German Presidency as mediator. We want a result acceptable to all Member States – but also, of course, to Parliament. We must take account of the discussions held not only in the Netherlands and France but also elsewhere since the negative outcome of the referendums.
We have to take people’s concerns seriously; but, at the same time – as the discussions have also shown – there are numerous fields in which citizens want to see more Europe, more EU involvement. There has been extensive discussion recently of the issues of energy and the climate, and also of EU common foreign policy and the fight against terrorism and crime in this regard.
There is one fact confirmed by numerous surveys that I consider very important, and that is that the majority of Europeans do not oppose the European Union. They want to see an EU that is capable of action and efficient, that concentrates on the essentials, that really solves the problems it tackles.
It is no secret that agreement has yet to be reached on a series of important issues; to begin with, there are discussions on the future architecture of the treaties. Nor would I be divulging a secret if I said there are proposals for a return to a classic amending treaty. Parliament, too, has expressed its readiness to think about the presentation of future treaties. I am counting on our finding a solution to this that all our partners can support and that also represents clear progress in terms of readability and transparency for citizens.
As Mr Brok, too, has just reiterated, Parliament has always been an active champion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Therefore, Parliament’s support for retaining the Charter, and particularly its legally binding nature, has the agreement of the large majority of Member States."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples