Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-07-Speech-4-011"
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"en.20070607.3.4-011"2
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"Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, an agreement on the institutions is needed on 22 June; an agreement that enables Europe to do as the Presidency and the Commission have said and take the decision to act in the areas in which the Union is required: climate, energy, immigration, security and foreign affairs.
In the face of globalisation, our countries, our fellow citizens, must be actors and not spectators. If action is what drives us, if we, as Europeans, are the heirs of a civilisation and the vehicle for values and ideals designed to influence this changing world, we must provide ourselves with the resources for this. We are awaiting a comprehensive agreement on 22 June on the general outlines of a new European treaty enabling the Union to be at once more effective, more democratic, more understandable and, above all, more transparent. Whether it is called a treaty, a simplified treaty or a basic treaty, it must be ratified before the next elections in 2009.
We want a treaty that lives up to the expectations of the countries that ratified the current treaty, of those who rejected it and of those who reserved judgment. As far as the members of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats are concerned, it can be neither a minimum treaty nor a treaty by default. We need an ambitious, realistic treaty, a treaty that is equal to what is at stake, one that respects the imperatives of subsidiarity and proportionality. This treaty must accord full importance to the parliamentary dimension of European integration. This treaty must endow the European Union with a legal personality, provide for the unification of the rules of the three pillars and settle the issue of a stable presidency of the Council and the issue of the EU’s foreign affairs minister. This treaty must extend the scope of majority voting so that the Union is not paralysed by the right of veto: reservations must not hinder those who, together, want to move forward.
This treaty must make the Charter of Fundamental Rights – the common basis of the rights and freedoms of the citizens – legally binding. It must also provide Europe with the legal instruments necessary to rise to the new challenges. It is on all of these fundamentals, on which the demands of our countries and of our fellow citizens converge, that the agreement of 22 June must focus. My group would like to pay tribute to Chancellor Merkel and to Minister Steinmeier for their efforts to make progress on this reform.
Ladies and gentlemen, democracy in a State subject to the rule of law hinges on parliamentary representation. If the Heads of State or Government decide to set up an intergovernmental conference, we expect the parliamentary dimension to be a very strong component of it. I am thinking of a European Parliament that will be represented by eminent and qualified figures, but I am also thinking of the national parliaments, which must make their voices clearly heard in this process.
Our Parliament will, during the course of this part-session, express a position that is both strong and detailed by adopting the Brok/Barón Crespo report on the interinstitutional development of Europe. Our President will communicate this position during the Council of 21 and 22 June. I have no doubt that a great deal of attention will be paid to this position and that it will be reflected in the conclusions of the forthcoming Summit and Intergovernmental Conference.
Europe has a duty to produce results. We are confident that, just as it has done previously for climate change and energy, on 22 June the German Presidency will enable the political will to prevail over scepticism, that it will be able to move Europe forward on a matter that is technical, admittedly, but crucial, so that we can decide on the real issues at stake and on the real values."@en1
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