Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20070711.5.3-059"2
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".
Mr President, Prime Minister, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, this debate in plenary began at 9 a.m. and is still going on. Perhaps it would have been better to link the debate on the Portuguese Presidency to comments on our opinion on the Intergovernmental Conference, since that Intergovernmental Conference is the centrepiece of the Portuguese Presidency and its success or failure will be determined by whether or not Lisbon produces a Treaty.
The message that we wish to convey in our opinion is that the European Parliament gives the green light for convening an Intergovernmental Conference. There was an extremely tight deadline for consultations on this opinion and many fellow MEPs criticised the timing, but we pulled out all the stops and do not want to put any obstacles in your way. We do not want to put spokes in anyone's wheel, because we ourselves have an interest in both convening and concluding this Intergovernmental Conference speedily. We hope that the October summit will produce results. That is feasible because the mandate is very specific and we have a textual proposal. So there should be lots of work for the legal experts but not much for the politicians, if everyone keeps to the agreement achieved in the Brussels Council.
Which brings me to my first appeal to the Portuguese Presidency: stand firm, be consistent, do not let the Member States step out of line, do not allow new points to be added to the agenda, or additional requests because people claim not to understand something that they fully understood the day before. Be strict, stick to the precise terms of the mandate, and then you will succeed.
We realise that there have been some losses. There is a price to pay, and not only in the loss of symbolic elements. The Reform Treaty is conceptually different to the original Constitution. To a large extent, the idea of a Europe of citizens and states, not simply a Europe of states, has been lost. Article 1 has disappeared, and the Treaty simply says: 'The High Contracting Parties have agreed' and there is no longer any reference to 'reflecting the will of the citizens and States of Europe'. This may seem minor, but it is a sign of erosion that may well prove harmful. We would like to highlight this point.
We are also very concerned by the growing number of opt-out clauses. It raises the question of whether everyone wants one Europe. Is there still the political will for further integration or are we already dealing with two groups of countries who only want to remain in the EU on paper. The question needs to be asked. Parliament is extremely critical of the United Kingdom's opt-out clause for the Charter on Fundamental Rights.
The EU wants to become a Community of values. We speak out throughout the world in favour of human rights, fundamental rights. I can already hear Mr Putin or the Chinese Prime Minister saying but you cannot even agree on fundamental rights amongst yourselves! This is a blow to the credibility of the EU as a whole, and it also constitutes discrimination against citizens resident in the United Kingdom, including EU citizens who live and work there. In our opinion, we call on the institutions and governments to again do everything in their power to create equal protection for fundamental rights – it could work! The Court of Justice has a vital role to play here.
The Constitution was drafted by a Convention. Now we have an Intergovernmental Conference that uses different methods, but, President-in-Office, you can still go for maximum transparency. Publish the documents that are put forward for discussion; work with us and the Commission to pursue a strategy of dialogue with the public and the citizens.
The so-called simplified Treaty will unfortunately be a complicated treaty. We do also need a consolidated version before the close of the Intergovernmental Conference, and not, as was the case in Amsterdam, one year later. We need a readable text when the IGC closes. Perhaps it would also be useful to supply an explanation with the text, setting out the key elements and main messages for the citizens.
Of course, we welcome all the progress made. We do want to make another major step forward, preferably before the European election, so that we can focus on other issues during the 2009 election campaign. So there is a lot of hard work to be done, but with determination and commitment we should succeed. Parliament supports the Portuguese Presidency."@en1
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