Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-057"
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"en.20070711.5.3-057"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, two years have passed since the rejection of the Constitution in two Member States cast a shadow over the Union’s activities. After a year of reflection, the German Presidency was given a mandate, in June 2006, to find a solution that would enable us to emerge from this deadlock and, on behalf of my colleagues, I should like to congratulate the German Presidency on obtaining a broad agreement at the European Council. I consider that we all have reason to be very particularly grateful to Chancellor Merkel for her personal commitment to getting that agreement voted through.
As previous speakers have said, the agreement reached at the European Council means that a new reforming Treaty will be drawn up, opening the way to a rapid Intergovernmental Conference with a view to enabling the new Treaty to enter into force in time for the elections to Parliament in 2009. I warmly commend it to all of you.
It is obvious that many of you will find parts of the agreement which you consider less than satisfactory. None of us can pretend that this is exactly the mandate we would have formulated if we had had total freedom to do so. From the outset, the German Presidency was confronted with the difficult task of reconciling very different opinions on how we should move forward. Those who had already ratified the Constitutions wished, understandably enough, to keep the existing text as close to its original form as possible, while others called for a fresh text as different as possible from the draft Constitutional Treaty. The text is, therefore, a compromise between these two positions. Everyone has now had a chance to assess the outcome and I therefore will not linger over the details. I am convinced that this is a balanced text and that it would not have been possible to reach a better agreement than this.
The agreement reached at the European Council confers on the Portuguese Presidency a mandate which, because it is all-encompassing and exhaustive in its detail, will enable the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), charged with fully transforming the mandate into the text of a Treaty, to complete its work in as short a time as possible. Parliament will be fully involved in the work of the IGC and the Council has accepted a Portuguese proposal that Parliament should have three representatives at the Conference.
Knowing the commitment of this Chamber to ensuring that the Union will in future be able to act with the greatest efficiency and democratic legitimacy, I am delighted with that increased representation. Parliament has obviously been consulted throughout the process leading to the IGC. I know the MEPs’ contribution was very much appreciated by the German Presidency, which took it fully into consideration when drawing up the mandate.
Mr President, honourable Members, the Council has invited Parliament to submit its opinion on the holding of an IGC and its debates in this House today are geared towards this opinion. I would encourage you to submit your opinion as quickly as possible so that work of the IGC can begin before the summer holidays. We are absolutely determined that it should do so. I hope you will agree with me when I say that this objective is in all our interests.
You will undoubtedly have some detailed observations to make and would like them to be taken into consideration at the IGC, but I hope that collectively you can give ample support to the mandate inherited by this Presidency. This is the only way of ensuring that the work of the IGC is a success and the only way of helping the Union out of its current deadlock."@en1
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