Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-31-Speech-4-045"
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"en.20080131.5.4-045"2
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"The face of the old Europe has changed. Today the European Union, with 27 Member States and nearly 500 million inhabitants, is facing complex and stimulating challenges, requiring us to adopt an ever broader world view and a stance that is very attentive to issues such as peacekeeping, security, stability, freedom and the exercise of democracy. As immortalised by Victor Hugo’s wisdom, it requires us to know how much of the future can be introduced into the present, as the secret of great government. It is therefore the scope and major challenge of this report – the challenge of the security of persons and property in the EU area – and is an issue in the everyday lives of Europeans. I am talking about security, specifically, today and tomorrow, every day, in the streets, at work, at leisure and at home, on land, at sea, in the air. It is the security of our common space that, without being imposed, guarantees and underpins freedom in a balanced society.
Freedom is a cornerstone, a fundamental value of the Union; security is a tool in the service of well-being, it offers stability and safeguards freedom. Freedom as a value and security as a tool are essential to the European project. Austria’s initiative, taken up by the Portuguese Presidency and which gave rise to the Council Decision, provides for the improvement of cooperation between the special intervention units of the European Union in crisis situations. It is a good and necessary initiative. This initiative also complements Prüm, since that Treaty provides for cooperation only in the event of natural disasters or serious accidents. My report proposed 11 amendments to the proposal for a decision which also establishes a minimum general framework for possible cooperation in man-made crises, hijacking, terrorist attacks, etc.; i.e. man-made crisis situations presenting a serious direct physical threat to persons, property, infrastructure or institutions.
In the proposal, cooperation in terms of training, preparation and action by special intervention units is always a possibility and the Member State may or may not request cooperation, indicating what type of assistance it requires. The effectiveness and promptness of interventions will always depend on the degree of preparedness, coordination, linkage and the existence of uniform methods in the
of the intervention units, which is why I propose, firstly, the possibility of joint training and exercises, and secondly, that the training and exercises be funded from the budget of the European Union, pursuant to Articles 30, 32 and 34 of the Treaty on European Union. I would also point out that, in our understanding, the rules on civil and criminal liability applicable in the event of joint operations must be the same as in the Prüm Decision.
Mr President, fellow Members, this Council Decision is very important. It is a common solution to common issues and threats facing all Member States. It is a solution that values the essential cooperation in preparing for and reacting to man-made crises, which are always unforeseen but always possible. Finally, I would like to highlight and offer my thanks for the institutional and technical cooperation I have been given and draw attention to the amendments proposed by Mr Díaz de Mera, Mr Demetriou and Mrs Iotova which have improved and enriched my draft report."@en1
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