Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-27-Speech-2-679-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110927.31.2-679-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, congratulations on your election.
As I began, may I thank the Polish Presidency especially, and the Hungarian Presidency for the groundwork that they put in. I look forward very much to what I am sure will be a successful Presidency event in Warsaw.
Members have raised a range of different issues and I begin with the one that our colleague Mr Brok raised, which is: why am I sitting here and not there? I move between the two places each time; if you build me a bench in the middle I would be very happy to sit there. I am trying to fulfil my obligations!
The most important question that I think has been raised in our discussion has been: do we have the political will to put the amount of energy and effort into our partnership in the east in the way that we have spent a lot of our energy looking to our southern neighbourhood? From the commitment of honourable Members and, I hope from what I have said in this debate and the number of times Štefan has discussed these issues from his perspective and from our joint perspective, I believe the answer is very clearly ‘yes’. The summit that we have this week in Warsaw is really important and I want to thank the Polish Presidency very much for the enormous amount of work that they have put in. I can bear witness to that work and I thank them very much for all the effort that they have made.
It is because of the work that they have done and because of the commitment that I think you will see from Štefan and myself that we see a strong representation from the European Union and, I hope, a successful summit in the making. However, I do not underestimate all the challenges as we look at our six partners in our eastern neighbourhood. Our relationship with each one of them brings with it some challenges that need to be addressed and concerns, all of which have been expressed in this House this evening, in terms of frozen conflict, the potential for new conflict, the need to espouse the value and principles that we must hold within the European Union. However, we expect those we wish to collaborate with also to take these on, so it is important to make sure that how those concerns are dealt with is clear and transparent.
This brings me to the case that has been raised most often in our discussions, which is that of Yulia Tymoshenko. I want to be clear that the issue that we have raised is this apparently selective use of criminal judicial measures, and to say that the criticisms come not only from us but from many others, from independent experts. I think it is very important they be taken very seriously. This is the issue that I have raised with them, the issue that Štefan has raised with them. When we see judicial process, we wish to see due process. We wish to see people dealt with fairly and properly, within the way in which we operate as a European Union. Having once been a justice minister, I know how important this is as part of that journey in the development of the European Union and how important it is that we stand absolutely by those principles.
We are going to continue with our discussions on the deep and comprehensive free trade area and the association agreement because we believe that an association agreement provides stronger guarantees on some of the issues with Ukraine that we think are so important. As Members have pointed out, it goes without saying that any agreement has to be ratified, that national parliaments and the European Parliament will want to make sure that they are comfortable with the spirit in which this is done.
Specifically, too, Members raised the issue of the civil society facility. We have already identified EUR 22 million for this facility. Its purpose is to focus on the empowerment of civil society and increase public accountability, which is a really important issue. Coming back to my point about transparency and openness, the value of the Endowment for Democracy proposal is to enable us to do things that we cannot already do. It is not to duplicate what the instruments that we have do, but to look at some of the questions that have been raised in our discussions with our partners across the east and the south. How do we support the processes more effectively? How do we support young people? How do we support the growth of the political process? That will enable us, we hope, to work in a slightly more arms-length way, which can be of great value to those who wish to get support and help but do not meet the criteria that we quite rightly have for our instruments.
I want to end by focusing again on what I think the deliverables will be at this summit. First of all, the clear timeframe for the signing of the Ukraine Association Agreement and the free trade agreement, and for the start of those negotiations with Moldova and Georgia. If we are able to move forward on these, that would be important. Mobility is a big issue for many countries, and the importance of looking at what we can deliver on mobility over the coming months will also be a big part of this.
There is also the question of some cooperation between different sectors, particularly energy and transport, and, of course, political cooperation and dialogue. If we are able to use this opportunity to bring together the leadership with the European Union and with our eastern partners, and develop a stronger relationship, being clear about the commitments that we expect as well as the commitments that we give, with ‘more for more’ and mutual accountability being the watchwords of how we operate, I think it will have been an enormous success and it will give new energy to our work with our eastern partners."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples