Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-06-Speech-3-063"
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"en.20070606.12.3-063"2
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".
Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to offer my sincere thanks once again to the two rapporteurs who laid the foundations for today’s debate. I also welcome what appears to me to be broad support for this project for a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, on which we still have a fair bit of work to do.
Íñigo Méndez de Vigo began by citing Hemingway’s tale of the fisherman and the huge fish that was nothing but bones by the time it was brought ashore. Perhaps the fisherman lacked the technical facilities that would have enabled him to land the large live fish safely. We who face these formidable challenges today, however, have all the facilities at our disposal. We have recognised that this European Union must organise itself differently to improve its decision-making capacity and to deal with issues which differ from those that were on the agenda ten or fifteen years ago.
It would be a pity if this work that has been done and approved over the past few years were suddenly rejected. Let me say quite explicitly, as someone who, until recently, had always been a back-bencher, that it is wrong to use words loosely in this kind of debate. No one is foisting anything on anyone. It was the will of Members of Parliament, following the experience of Nice, to convoke a Convention, on which many Members of Parliament wanted to serve, to create a new treaty.
The wish was unequivocally expressed that parliamentarians from countries which were not yet members of the European Union should also take part. It is wrong to cite examples now to try and demonstrate that there was some sort of compulsion involved. The fact that there was a wish to involve those countries, so as to ensure that they did not have a treaty foisted on them, was a reflection of precisely that democratic will which distinguishes this European Union.
In recent days it has been said time and again that the German Presidency wants success. Of course we want success, but not for ourselves. We want it for this European Union, because on 25 March we placed on record the challenges we face and the fact that we need new instruments to deal with climate change and energy problems. And anyone who demands more solidarity from the European Union on the climate and energy must naturally ensure that the means to achieve that goal are in place. I therefore thank you for your broad support. We hope, as one honourable lady said, that the Heads of State or Government obtain a clear mandate with a fixed timetable for the Intergovernmental Conference."@en1
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