Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-097"
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"en.20071023.7.2-097"2
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"Mr President, Ms Thyssen asked a specific question: can we make progress between now and the final ratification? As I said, it is by delivering results to European citizens that we can help to create the right political environment to facilitate ratification.
It would be a mistake to slow down our delivery, and it would be against the twin-track strategy central to the Commission, which stated that we should at the same time solve the political institutional matters and deliver concrete results to our citizens. On the contrary, this Commission, and I am sure also this Parliament, should be active – and we could be even more active together – in promoting a European citizens’ agenda.
The second issue concerned communication and democracy. Communicating about a treaty and explaining it to our public is primarily the responsibility of the national authorities. However, it is also a task for the European Institutions. I agree with what Mr Queiró said about the importance of the role of the European Parliament in this matter. We in the Commission are ready to assume our responsibility in close cooperation with Member States and the European Parliament.
I agree with the points made about subsidiarity by Mr Kelam and Mr Nassauer. It is very important to highlight the added value, in terms of democracy, of this Treaty. It makes Europe more democratic and more accountable and places a stronger emphasis on subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is a way to reinforce Europe and the European Institutions, not to weaken those Institutions, because by working close to the citizens they get more legitimacy and can take better decisions.
I also believe that it is right in our communication, as Mr Corbett highlighted, to explain the new democratic dimension. We in the European Union are proud to have this kind of democratic system. We can always make it better, but there is no other place in the world where there is such democratic participation at transnational level as the European Union.
We should also, in communication terms, make clear our reinforced capacity to act on behalf of the citizens in areas relevant to their concerns, like climate protection, energy and migration. Those are concrete concerns for our citizens and we are addressing those concerns. In communication terms, we should also highlight the reinforced capacity to act in the international scene.
Finally, I want to highlight one point that was made clear by Mr Poignant and I thank him for highlighting the importance of Jean Monnet. It is true that this is not a perfect Treaty, but sometimes people say we are giving up the values and the commitment of the founding fathers. That is not true. We are doing what Jean Monnet and many others have said, which is to build
step by step – this common project, and we have to do it by conceding now that we have to commit to our citizens, and that we have to fulfil concrete tasks and deliver concrete results.
The Lisbon Summit, in concentrating on the Treaty and the Institutions and, on the second day, showing the way to globalisation, and the way we can together reinforce our capacity to act so that we can meet the challenge of globalisation, has indeed set the agenda for the future of Europe. It was therefore a great success, and the Portuguese Presidency, the Member States, the European Parliament and the Commission should really celebrate this fact and look to the future with renewed confidence."@en1
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