Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-05-Speech-2-208"
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"en.20090505.22.2-208"2
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"Mr President, we approach the next European Council with anxiety tempered by ambition. One important item on the agenda should, of course, be the nomination of the next President of the Commission, but that nomination cannot be seen in isolation. The President is underpinned by the Commissioners and, in the light of the Lisbon stalemate, we are none the wiser on how those posts will be filled.
So, when we ask the citizens of Europe to choose their new parliamentarians in just four weeks’ time, we do so on the basis of uncertainty and we run the risk of that vacuum being filled by the opportunism of Europe’s opponents. The time has come to make clear how we will proceed. Mr Daul has expressed his determination that the largest group should propose the President of the Commission, as was the case five years ago. My group follows that logic. The next President of the Commission, whenever he or she is appointed, must know the legal basis and the timeframe for the appointment of the College of Commissioners. The logical approach is to make all the appointments on the basis of Nice or all on the basis of Lisbon. That is the kind of certainty citizens need. Those Member States yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty should act to make that deal easier to strike. Tomorrow the Czech Senate will vote on the Treaty, with a three-fifths majority required. Assuming its assent, the document will be delivered to Mr Klaus’s desk. He should sign it forthwith.
President-in-Office, your Presidency has not been bad. As Mr Barroso said, a number of legislative acts have successfully been brought to conclusion, but the headline facts – despite the best efforts of you and your team, Mr Vondra, and we wish you well – are that we have had the first Eurosceptic Council President and the collapse of a government half way through the Presidency. Also, I am sorry to remind you of it, but it may take some time to forget the
sculpture, no matter how much we may want to. So, when the President replaces the Prime Minister in the summit chair, let him end his term of office on a positive point. Let him confirm his signature of the Lisbon Treaty.
For all that Lisbon matters, it will not define this European election campaign. Europe’s voters are interested less in constitutional questions than in practical solutions to the problems they face, and I urge you at your summit to recognise these problems. Europe’s economy continues to creak under the weight of recession, and citizens need to know how we will lighten that load. My group welcomes the hedge fund proposals from the Commission in that regard as a good first step. Europe’s environment remains in peril as climate chaos draws ever closer and voters must see that the European Union can lead the fight back. Europe’s values are undermined by human rights abuses occurring on our doorstep, and people should understand that the European Union retains its resolve to right those wrongs. These are the challenges of our times. This election campaign must show that Europe is up to the task and that Europe alone is equipped to do so."@en1
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"Entropa"1
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