Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-24-Speech-3-015"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080924.4.3-015"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Madam Vice-President, next year – 2009 – is indeed a very important year for the European Union, for it is the year in which the European elections are due to take place, and more generally, the major question as to the European Union's future course must be answered.
The elections will take place: that we do know, but what we do not yet know is the exact basis on which we will be working together thereafter. That is a question to which our citizens are quite rightly expecting an answer. From the European institutions' perspective, how do we envisage the future of Europe?
The Commission's legislative and work programme of course offers an opportunity to provide a comprehensive answer to this question. That is why we, as the Parliament, have agreed to set out our own requirements of the Commission's work programme first, before it is presented to us and we then react to it.
The European Union faces these major challenges of direct relevance to its future. What will that future bring? At the same time, so much is happening in the world which directly affects citizens in their daily lives, such as rising energy prices and the financial crisis. Here, we need clear words from Europe to explain how the European Union intends to respond. For that, we need conviction and leadership.
That is why it is important for the European Commission to set out very clearly how it intends to respond to these crises and, in its work programme, to define exactly where the political priorities must lie.
In this context, it is important, from our perspective, for the Commission to keep the European Union's competitiveness in mind. In an increasingly globalised market, it is important for us to define this as one of our continued political priorities.
Other aspects which are equally important, however, are strengthening and protecting civil rights, expanding research, and finding a solution to climate change. These are other issues which have been very important topics in the House for many years. These areas should be defined by the Commission, and above all, it should also ensure that Europe is able to take credit for any successes achieved. It is often the case that if something is achieved which is entirely in line with citizens' interests and wellbeing, the Member States take the credit. I would like the Commission to pay more heed to this in future.
In that respect, I am very pleased to see you, Madam Vice-President, here today. There are one or two of our fellow Members of the House who have to accept that Mr Barroso, the Commission President, had something else in his diary for today. I am pleased that you are here, Madam Vice-President, because you are responsible for driving forward communication in the European Union and this might present an opportunity for today's topic – namely the Commission's work programme – to be fully debated in the national parliaments as well, so that we have this type of interplay from the outset. In the German Bundestag, this now takes place in most of the committees, but it is something which should undoubtedly form part of the plenary agenda in the national parliaments throughout Europe as a whole.
Europe's hour has come: that much should be obvious. We are facing global challenges, and Europe has no option but to develop a joint response."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples