Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-20-Speech-4-008"
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"en.20100520.3.4-008"2
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"Mr President, I should like to start by expressing my warmest thanks to all my colleagues who were involved in this report; this truly is a collective piece of work. We reached 28 compromises; compromises which enriched rather than watered down the strategic vision that we wanted to impart to this report, to our commitment to the Mediterranean. I should therefore like to extend my warmest thanks to Marietta Giannakou for the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), Ivo Vajgl for the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Hélène Flautre, and the rapporteurs for the opinions of the Committee on International Trade, Mrs De Sarnez, and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Mrs Tzavela.
What was important, for us, was to make it understood that there are strategic issues at stake here for Europe. In fact, it is not just a question of thinking that the South needs us; we also need the South, especially in these times of crisis. If we want to have a long-term vision, if we want sustainable growth in a multipolar world, then we also need the South.
In light of this, Europe needs to undertake to make the Union for the Mediterranean an area of peace, security and prosperity for its 800 million habitants and to look at this work as a long-term priority. It is this common will that allowed us to come together, because we know that the economic stakes, the demographic stakes, the geopolitical stakes that we are facing, like the social and cultural stakes, presuppose that we are capable of working with the other side of the Mediterranean. For us, it is also cultural and civilisation issues that are at stake.
We know this; Parliament has worked in knowledge of the difficulties of setting up the Union for the Mediterranean for two years. We have not avoided tackling the question of conflicts taking place in the South, but we wanted to affirm very forcefully that it was precisely the approach of the Union for the Mediterranean, with specific projects, parity between North and South in decision-making bodies and the possibility, for example, of bringing Israelis and Palestinians to the same table, that was the right method for helping to resolve these conflicts and that, moreover, the Union for the Mediterranean should not be asked to pursue all the objectives at the same time and that it needed to focus on these specific activities.
In this project – and I do hope that the second summit of Heads of State or Government will be held in Barcelona on 7 June – we, the European Parliament, wanted to send a strong message to the Heads of State or Government to tell them they must make a commitment because this summit must be a success. In light of this, we have pointed out the approaches that we think are necessary today. First of all, we need to remove certain obstacles, which, of course, include the financial and economic conditions.
That is why the European Parliament hopes that the European Union will make a financial commitment commensurate with what is at stake, firstly in terms of what is left of the financial perspective 2007-2013, and that, in the financial perspective 2014-2020, the Union’s undertaking will be much greater, so that the six major projects on the table can be completed. We need to improve the economic and legal environment. We need to improve South-South regional integration. We also need, in addition to economic conditions, new political conditions, which is why we placed an emphasis on cultural integration, education, cultural projects and on the rights of men and women.
To conclude: Europe, in this crisis, needs to look far and wide. We must not sacrifice the long term to the short term. We must assume our responsibilities. Europe needs the South."@en1
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