Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-07-15-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20090715.4.3-015"2
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Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the first plenary session of a newly elected European Parliament is a unique political moment. It opens a legislative term that will influence the daily lives of hundreds of millions of European citizens and the fate of an entire continent.
Mr President, during the Czech Presidency there were also very important developments concerning the Lisbon Treaty. The last European Council agreed the necessary guarantees that allow the Irish Government to call a second referendum, fully reassured that the concerns expressed by Irish people have been addressed satisfactorily. Let us not forget that it was also during the Czech Presidency that the Czech Senate finalised parliamentary ratification, bringing the total number of Member States that have completed the parliamentary approval process to 26.
The Czech Presidency has now passed the baton to the Swedish Presidency, but the challenges Europe faces continue and go well beyond the scope of a single presidency.
The European project has always been a long-term one. We make progress when we work as a team. Like a team, every member is vital to success: the Council, the Commission and Parliament all have an important role to play in meeting our common European ambitions at the service of Europe’s citizens.
The Europe we must continue to build together is a strong Europe, an open Europe, a Europe of solidarity. It is a Europe that offers a maximum of opportunities to its citizens; a Europe that builds on its continental dimension and draws full benefit from the potential of its internal market, so crucial for consumers and for small- and medium-sized companies; a Europe of knowledge and innovation; a Europe that respects the environment and ensures its energy security; a Europe that reaches out to other global actors in a spirit of partnership in order to tackle shared challenges together.
In this time of global crisis, we need a strong Europe more than ever before – and a strong Europe means a united Europe ready to seize and shape its destiny. Let us work together – Parliament, Council, Commission – to show that the expectations of Europe’s citizens are safe in our hands; that their desire for freedom, justice and solidarity will not go ignored.
I should like sincerely to congratulate all the MEPs who have just been elected. Your presence in this Chamber is the result of the greatest exercise in transnational democracy ever staged in the world. I wish you every success for your term of office.
The challenges faced by Europe and those that it will have to take up over the next few years are immense. Firstly, there is the economic and financial crisis, which requires us to continue the systematic coordinated action that we have embarked on. There is the social cost of this crisis, which is our top priority. There is the fight against climate change and the transition to a green and sustainable economy, which shows the political direction we need to go in.
All these challenges have also distinguished the Czech Presidency, which has just come to an end. I should like to congratulate Prime Minister Fischer and his predecessor, Mirek Topolánek, on the results obtained during a particularly difficult phase. I thank them and their entire team for their excellent cooperation, despite some internal political difficulties.
I should also like to highlight the political significance of this Czech Presidency. For the first time, a country which, only a few years ago, was a member of the Warsaw Pact has been in charge of our European project of freedom and solidarity. This is a very important point, which shows the extent to which we have progressed within our Europe.
During the Czech Presidency we have been able to achieve some impressive results in practice: 54 texts have been adopted by codecision. I should like to mention in particular the agreement on a wide range of measures on regulation of the financial markets and on the EUR 5 billion in the context of the European recovery plan, and you are all very well aware of how hard we, the Commission and Parliament, have had to fight to achieve this. I would also mention the review of the Globalisation Adjustment Fund. I welcome the development of the internal energy market and of the internal transport market.
In all of these areas there were ambitious proposals from the Commission, which were supported by this Parliament. I welcome the unanimous support of the last European Council for the road map that the Commission proposed on the subject of supervision of the financial markets. We now have an ambitious consensus that no one could have hoped for a few months ago when I convened a group of high-level experts under the chairmanship of Mr de Larosière. This will enable us to spearhead the reform of the international financial system. Moreover, it was in this same spirit that we took part in the G20 in London, prompting some very important decision-making.
Beyond its legislative work, the Czech Presidency has also been able to confront challenges of a political nature, some of which were extremely sensitive, indeed extremely serious. We have had to manage the gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia, which has again highlighted the need for Europe to strengthen its energy security. Over the last six months we have made much progress, for example by developing the Baltic interconnection plan.
The day before yesterday I attended the ceremony of the signing of the Nabucco project between Turkey and four of our Member States – Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania – in the presence of many countries from which we hope to import gas in the future. This is a truly European project, and I am proud that the Commission has been able to act as a facilitator in it, since this role has been recognised as essential for all the participants."@en1
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