Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-20-Speech-3-028"
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"en.20080220.3.3-028"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, a great deal has already been said about what people in Europe want. I can go along with the previous speaker in asking: you want a stronger European Union. Why? Some see globalisation as a great opportunity and want Europe to use this opportunity too. Many – probably more – people see globalisation as a danger. They are afraid of it and want Europe to help them overcome its disadvantages.
The question here, of course, is: what is the Reform Treaty – this Treaty on which both rapporteurs have drawn up a very good report – giving back? The answer is clear: the Reform Treaty strengthens the European Union without doing away with democracy. On the contrary: there is an excess of democracy for the European Parliament, for the national parliaments, and yet a capacity for action by the European Union, which this Treaty creates. This is what is crucial. I am therefore of the opinion that many of the citizens’ interests are well represented.
What should we do, therefore, with this common capacity to act, which also finds expression specifically through a High Representative, who can do more as Vice-President of the Commission for a common foreign and security policy? Together, for example, with the energy issues and with the additional energy competence that the Reform Treaty gives the European Union, we could in the end be pursuing a legally competent foreign energy policy bringing us into a better starting position with regard to Russia and other major energy powers. Together with the foreign trade competence we can also better represent the interests of our employees and our economy in international trade relations. Together with our environmental competence we can also ensure that our emissions trading and the other environmental targets we want to reach do not mean that our economy and our employees will be damaged, but that the environment is better understood across the globe.
It is the Reform Treaty’s great merit – I, too, therefore clearly support the work of the rapporteurs – to ensure that the European Union becomes more capable of action and more democratic at the same time."@en1
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