Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-074"
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"en.20081008.14.3-074"2
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"Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, since I have already spoken, I will be brief.
Finally – and this point is crucial, because everything boils down to this – these crises are interdependent. These crises are interlinked. The economic and financial crisis is the most visible. However, three months ago, it was the energy crisis. In any case, we still face a food crisis, we still face an external crisis. I will say it again, to respond to these crises, to respond to these challenges, there needs to be more Europe, more coordination, greater capacity for decision-making, more visibility and more responsiveness. The answer to this is more institution, and the way that we will have more institution is through the Treaty of Lisbon. We must ensure that the treaty comes into force soon. We must find a solution with our Irish friends. We will use our best efforts so that, by the end of the year, we have a political solution to this institutional problem, which, when we look at the challenges that we face and that we have debated all afternoon, must be resolved as a matter of urgency.
Regarding the management of the financial crisis, I am very sorry that my being here is not enough for Mrs Berès, but I am glad that she is satisfied with seeing Mr Almunia here. More seriously, the speeches by Mrs Berès, Mr Karas and Mrs Kauppi, in particular, show that what we need – as has already been said – is to make sure that we effectively adopt the Commission’s proposals which are on the table and which cover all aspects of the supervision, regulation and modification of accounting rules.
This will be in the sense of an adaptation of existing regulations, of an adaptation of the rules rendered necessary by the present situation, and not in the sense of overregulation. As we have already said, in this area we need more of Europe and we need to adapt our regulations to the interdependency of financial institutions and the interdependency of our rules for financing the economy. We need to get up to speed very quickly in this area and regain the momentum we had a few years ago – you will be discussing this – in order to finalise the organisation set up as part of the work carried out by Mr Lamfalussy.
It is also important for the Commission to have competencies – to have a role to play in this respect – and the Commission is perfectly right to insist on that point. We need to be logical about this. If we want more integration, if we want to implement the solutions that we have seen work for others, we need to create an organisation can meet the financial challenges that we will have to face, and we need to act swiftly. The French Presidency, as I said, will do everything within its power and devote all of its energy to increasing the necessary coordination and adaptation of rules in this area.
We clearly need there to be – as there indeed is – coordination between the European Central Bank, European finance ministers and the Commission in this area. This is more important than ever. We need to find concrete answers and we also need to anticipate the consequences that this crisis will have on the financing of the economy, and on the economy itself. We can already see the first signs of this. Here too – and this is an essential part of building confidence – we need to adopt major groundbreaking measures, particularly for SMEs.
In terms of external relations, elements of which were raised by Mr Saryusz-Wolski and Mrs Isler Béguin, I would like to tell Mr Saryusz-Wolski that the priority of the European Council, as I mentioned earlier, is to define precise strategies and to issue guidance for energy security and solidarity. One crisis should not mask another. Three months ago, we had an energy crisis. This still exists. Countries were dependent on other countries for their energy supply. That is still the case. We must have a European energy policy with substance, and here too we have fallen behind and need to move swiftly.
Concerning Belarus, I wanted – we will be debating this in more detail shortly – to tell Mr Saryusz-Wolski that there will be a troika during the General Affairs Council and that we will meet with the Belarus authorities then. As you know, and Mr Saryusz-Wolski underlined this, we have expressed our concerns in terms of the election process, which we are not satisfied with. We will be open about this, but, at the same time, the Council is considering a possible relaxation of certain sanctions, particularly the visa restrictions imposed on some Belarus officials affected by the sanctions. The Council is still reflecting on these developments.
I liked the expression you used, Mr President, concerning the conflict between Russia and Georgia. We must restore peace and ensure that there is peace in Georgia. This allows me to answer Mrs Isler Béguin. We will hold a High-Level Conference on 14 October, in the evening, and on 15 October. On 14 October, foreign ministers will meet with Bernard Kouchner, and on 15 October there will be a meeting of senior officials and leaders in order to find appropriate solutions to the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, recognition of which – I must say this to Mrs Isler Béguin, although she is well aware of it – remains extremely isolated, which is fortunate as this unacceptable act was strongly condemned by the European Union and by the Presidency.
In terms of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, I would like to answer Mrs Flautre – although I have no doubt that Mrs Isler Béguin will let her know what I said – by saying that the difference with this Pact is that there is better coordination; harmonisation, if you will, particularly in terms of asylum applications and in terms of applications made by migrants. The Pact actually clarifies the status of migrants, which represents progress for them. We would actually prefer a more pragmatic vision, a more balanced approach, an approach that can be interpreted in the context of the enlargement of the Schengen Agreement. The demographic crisis, the demographic challenge, is also one of the challenges that we must face under the French Presidency."@en1
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