Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-024"
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"en.20070711.4.3-024"2
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"Mr President, Prime Minister, you will certainly have noted, as I have, the enormous groundswell of both expectation and sympathy you have aroused on all sides of this House, and there must be some reason for that. The reason is, of course, the firm and decisive manner in which you have rejected any interference with the decisions taken at the June meeting of the European Council. Continue along that line and you will certainly have even stronger support after the informal meeting of the September European Council.
You also mentioned the Lisbon Strategy and the need for a new cycle. We all agree with that. We must, however, bear in mind that one of the reasons for the breakdown of the first Lisbon Strategy was the cardinal sin of not having given the Commission the responsibility for steering that strategy, a task for which the intergovernmental model has proved inadequate.
In recent years, the President of the Commission – and he deserves great credit for this – has tried to make use of the fine detail to move the strategy forward. Nonetheless, the Council must accept that the Commission must be even more deeply involved with it in order to achieve the ambitious objectives you referred to, Prime Minister, in your speech.
As far as foreign relations are concerned, it has to be said that you have started off on the right foot. The Summit with Brazil was an unqualified success, as I can confirm from President Lula's comments at the Conference of Presidents in Brussels.
I would also like to tell you that neither in Africa nor in Europe should anyone be held to ransom by Robert Mugabe. Let us say so clearly. The summit must be for debate and must not concentrate on that sole or principal topic. There are many other issues to which you have referred, which must be the subject of our discussion and our dialogue and partnership with Africa.
Just one more point, Mr President. In the case of relations with Russia, you have had the courage to visit President Putin in an atmosphere you knew would be unfavourable to you. You should now try to persuade your colleagues that Russia needs to be involved in [addressing] international problems, for Russia needs to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Prime Minister, you have the support of this House, you certainly have the support of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats for the ambitious programme you have presented. I am on your side, and wish you every success."@en1
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