Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-04-Speech-1-104"
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"en.20000904.7.1-104"2
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"Mr President, wishful thinking sets the tone of this report in my view. Only occasionally does the rapporteur display any sense of reality. This is very clearly the case in Recital O, in which he states that “the objective is certainly not to create a single diplomatic service to replace the foreign services of the Member States”. Yet at the same time, the entire document is suffused with the notion of – it would be safe to say, the passionate desire for – a Community diplomatic service for the Union.
The rapporteur rationalises his intention at the very beginning of his report. In his words: “since the 1950s the Community’s external activity has expanded continuously”. Given that the Union’s vacillating behaviour in the Balkans during the recently elapsed decade of the previous century is still fresh in the memory, this robust declaration sounds extremely implausible to my mind.
Another important point raised by Mr Galeote Quecedo is that of “a lack of coordination” in the foreign policy of the EU Member States, which he believes to be essential to the “visibility and effectiveness” of the CFSP. Does this really amount to nothing more than a coordination problem? As if the divergent national interests of the Member States had already been consigned to the European past! The opposite is true. The CFSP’s self-same lack of efficiency and visibility, as picked up on by the rapporteur, can be directly attributed to the divergent interests of the Member States.
The tension between fantasy and reality in the report also manifests itself in the proposal to set up a College of European Diplomacy. Just how realistic is it to ask for “adequate funding to be provided in the General Budget” for this project when the current EU delegations are already having to contend with serious personnel shortages due to a lack of funds? Mr Galeote Quecedo makes the same point himself in his explanatory statement.
Mr President, the question I am dying to ask is this: to what extent do the Member States themselves actually share the rapporteur’s views? At the end of the day, there is nothing skilful about spending Community money. On no account does this typically European custom rule out legitimate and extremely useful prior enquiries as to necessity and effectiveness."@en1
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