Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-16-Speech-3-053"
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Mr President, honourable Members, distinguished members of the European Commission, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to appear here for the first time as Spanish Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the European Council to explain to you the priorities of the Spanish Presidency.
As you well know, terrorist organisations establish cooperative links amongst themselves so that they can operate in a manner which exceeds the limits set by our borders. Spain wants the Union to play a more active role in the international sphere in the fight against terrorism. A first step towards this will be to develop close cooperation on criminal and legal matters with the United States, in accordance with the principles which underpin the legal system of the European Union, as emphasised by this House. The fight against terrorism needs to be waged within the context of the area of freedom, security and justice. The Presidency therefore attaches priority to pressing ahead to formulate a common policy on asylum and immigration, improve the management of the Union’s external frontiers, intensify our action against drugs trafficking and establish mutual recognition of court rulings both in civil matters, through the European enforcement order, and in the criminal field. These initiatives will require close institutional cooperation if we are to meet the deadlines set for creating the area of freedom, security and justice.
Ladies and gentlemen, the euro has been introduced, if I may say so, brilliantly, to say the least. By the end of the month few people in the Eurozone will still be using the old national currencies. This is good proof that Union policies are accepted when they are implemented properly and effectively. The solidity of our currency also calls for closer coordination of economic policies. This will mean enhancing the role of the Eurogroup, tightening the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and ensuring strict compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact. The euro will also raise the profile of the Eurozone, and this will force the Presidency to ensure that the Union’s views are taken into account in international forums.
We should recall that over the last decade Europe has fallen back six points in its per capita income compared with the United States of America. We therefore need to press ahead with modernising our economies in order to achieve stronger growth. Accordingly, another focus of the Presidency’s work will be the creation of an area of greater economic and social prosperity.
It is Spain’s intention that the Barcelona European Council should examine five specific areas with a view to achieving ‘More Europe’.
Firstly, we will promote the connection and opening up of European transport and communications systems. The Presidency will concentrate on the review of the trans-European transport networks, on making the Single European Sky a reality and on pressing ahead with the liberalisation of rail transport.
The second area of work in Barcelona will be to design a European energy market based on opening-up, liberalisation, competition, transparency and interconnection. With these criteria in mind, the Presidency will examine the opening-up of the gas and electricity markets for companies and for consumers, the rules on third-party access to networks and the creation of infrastructure and interconnections between national energy markets.
The integration of the financial markets is an absolute precondition for the proper functioning of the single currency and a basic prerequisite for European growth. Spain will work to meet the deadlines of the Financial Services Action Plan and to see that the new approach based on the Lamfalussy report, which includes the necessary respect for institutional balance, is applied as soon as possible.
We are all aware that employment is the best way of achieving social integration. As a fourth focus therefore, and on the basis of the Luxembourg Process in its current framework, the Barcelona European Council will seek a greater emphasis on the Employment Strategy in the analysis of the structural inflexibilities of our labour markets, in our tax and social protection systems and in the institutions of the labour market.
To get a good job, you undoubtedly first need access to a sound education which facilitates student mobility. Accordingly, the fifth point at Barcelona will be the Work Programme on education systems for the year 2010. We need to step up the quality of Europe’s education systems and open them up further to the rest of the world.
The Spanish Presidency coincides with the change of President of this Parliament. Yesterday, we attended the election of a new President in this House and the farewell to a President who has carried out her work very effectively.
Ladies and gentlemen, in Barcelona, the candidate countries will take part in a working session of the European Council for the first time. In my opinion, integrating the candidates into our work on economic and social modernisation will be the best political signal of our support for the enlargement process upon which the Union has embarked.
There is no doubt that enlargement will turn the page on a bitter episode in our continent’s past. It will bring in countries that belong to the European family, countries which share our values and which have been treated badly by the vicissitudes of history. The Spanish Presidency’s political will is to help ensure that all those countries that are ready can conclude their negotiations by the end of this year, 2002.
On the basis of the current
and the Financial Perspective, we will, during the Spanish Presidency, be negotiating the chapters relating to agriculture, regional policy and social cohesion policy, financial and budgetary provisions and institutional issues. Spain will also be seeking the closure of all those chapters that have not yet been concluded. For the negotiations to be rounded off definitively, all the Members of the Union will need to demonstrate their ability to compromise, the Commission will need to present its proposals on time and, above all, an effort will be required from each of the candidate countries. Progress will be assessed at the Seville European Council in June.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we also know, and it is our wish, that the European Union is destined to fulfil an important and growing political function on the international stage. The success of European integration and Europe’s economic and commercial weight are forcing an ever greater and more important external political profile on the Union. The current international context requires us to step up the Union’s presence in areas where peace and security are directly threatened. The Spanish Presidency therefore hopes to help develop an ambitious comprehensive regional strategy in Central Asia and Afghanistan to prevent the emergence of new areas of conflict.
But there will be no point in providing a European presence if we lack the capacity for effective crisis management and, specifically, military forces for limited operations requiring a rapid response. This objective should be achieved in the near future, when the European Security and Defence Policy effectively comes into operation and when the definitive pattern is established for a relationship of consultation and cooperation with the Atlantic Alliance. In this same area, Spain also proposes to launch a discussion on making the fight against terrorism an objective of the European Security and Defence Policy.
The credibility of the Union’s foreign policy will rest not only on its international presence, but also on effective instruments for implementing that policy and, above all, on a high degree of mutual consultation. On this last point, Spain attaches priority to developing the European Union’s relations with North America and with Russia. With North America we need to reinforce the trans-Atlantic dialogue, giving it greater and renewed strategic content. With Russia, Spain believes the European Union needs to support the strategy that country is currently implementing. Accordingly, one of the Presidency’s objectives will be to consolidate EU relations with Russia, relations based on specific points and tangible progress.
Ladies and gentlemen, next May in Madrid, the European Union will be holding its Second Summit with Latin America and the Caribbean with a view to renewing and promoting the strategic association between the two geographical regions. One objective of the Summit will be to work with Chile in order to make progress on the Association and Free Trade Agreement and push forward the Union’s negotiations with Mercosur. In addition, the European Union will be holding specific meetings with the Andean Community and Central America. At this point, I am bound to refer to our interest in and concern regarding the developing situation in Argentina. The European Union will work with the Argentine authorities to find realistic solutions based on dialogue, solutions which will restore confidence and enable the Argentine economy to achieve new growth and competitiveness.
Ladies and gentlemen, the European Union will also play an important role in achieving stability in the Middle East. For this we will need to step up our coordination with the United States and the other sponsors of the Peace Process. I hope that the recent European Union Declaration and the contacts established in the last few days on the initiative of the Spanish Presidency will help resolve a situation of instability which is affecting the countries of the region and the Mediterranean in general.
The Middle East conflict is a major factor influencing the progress of the Barcelona Process, the only forum for dialogue which brings together all those involved in the Peace Process, who are due to meet at the forthcoming Ministerial Summit in Valencia. Spain will also push for the conclusion of the outstanding Association Agreements between the European Union and the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and will work for the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean internal market and the development of the regional strategies on infrastructure. To help achieve this objective, the Laeken European Council, acting on a Spanish initiative, took up the idea of creating a bank specialising in operations in the Mediterranean countries, an idea we will be working on over the next few months in collaboration with the European Investment Bank and the monetary authorities.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are convinced that it is only by encouraging balanced development that we will be able to tackle illegal immigration effectively. Aware of the enormous importance of this phenomenon, Spain, with the backing of China and Vietnam, has been working for some time to ensure the success of the ministerial meeting on immigration to be held between the European Union and the Asian members of ASEM. We know that illegal immigration is the result of poverty and underdevelopment. This is why the Spanish Presidency attaches particular importance to the Monterrey Summit on Financing Development, which we are preparing in close cooperation with the United States and Mexico.
Mr Cox’s personality and political and institutional career guarantee that this House and the Presidency will enjoy fruitful political and institutional relations, which will be aimed at strengthening the European Union and creating a more prominent role for the European Parliament.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think it is safe to say that few people could have imagined that 45 years after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, 300 million Europeans would be using the same currency. We need to pursue this successful course, in what is a key period for the Union. This will require greater involvement of the people of Europe in shaping the future of the Union.
The Laeken European Council decided to set up a Convention on the future of Europe. That Convention will be holding its first session on 28 February in the European Parliament in Brussels. What place could better reflect both the importance of the new phase the European Union is going through and the recognition the Presidency wishes to give to the European Parliament’s work on the future of Europe. The Spanish Presidency is firmly set on contributing to the success of the Convention. That success will be the key to consolidating the process of gradual constitutionalisation of the Treaties we are currently engaged in, and to ensuring that such Conventions are in future perceived as a good method of preparing intergovernmental conferences. I hope that the President of the Convention will be able, as agreed, to present an initial report on the Convention’s work to the Seville European Council in June.
Ladies and gentlemen, I came here today to set out the priorities of the Spanish Presidency. Those priorities should translate into greater de facto solidarity, a solidarity which will enable us, on the basis of balance and of mutual respect for diverse interests, to continue consolidating the greatest period of peace, prosperity and freedom Europe has ever known. We know this will be a complex and arduous task, on account both of the number of issues we will need to apply ourselves to and of the ambitious nature of our goals. But it is only by virtue of that ambition, and on the basis of close collaboration between the institutions, that we will be able, as I am sure we will, to make this project a reality, a project whose ultimate purpose is to improve the lives of all the people of Europe.
Thank you very much for your attention.
The European Parliament has made a considerable contribution to today’s European Union through its work and its proposals, which represent a constant and innovative quest for greater efficiency in the functioning of the European Union. This House has also been able to adapt its diverse European parliamentary traditions, and try out new formulas in relations between civil society and its political representatives, increasing democratic control and the legitimacy of the European project. Nothing embodies this idea better than the codecision procedure which nevertheless needs to be improved for the sake of transparency and efficiency. The Spanish Presidency will therefore work to ensure that the eight conciliations scheduled for this six-month period are completed quickly.
Spain wishes to increase the Union’s institutional cooperation and democratic control; I would therefore like to guarantee the Presidency’s presence in plenary sessions, as has become customary during the previous Presidency. For my part, I am committed to informing the House following the Barcelona European Council, and carrying out a final assessment of this Presidency after the Seville European Council.
Ladies and gentlemen, the current political landscape obliges the Union to be ambitious in three areas. The first consists of producing a response to terrorism, from the point of view of creating an area of freedom, security and justice. The second involves creating an area of greater economic prosperity which safeguards the European social model. And the third is to make a success of the historic opportunity of enlargement and laying the foundations for the future enlarged Union.
In order to successfully reach these goals, we need to work for a greater deepening of Europe. By creating ‘more Europe’ we will strengthen the fight against terrorism and ensure that the introduction of the euro is successful and, only if we are ambitious, we will achieve enlargement, we will make progress with the creation of an area of greater prosperity, we will strengthen the Union’s external role and we will carry out the next Intergovernmental Conference successfully.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to acknowledge, and express my gratitude for, the responsibility that this House and the European Commission have demonstrated in the fight against terrorism. Days before the tragic events of 11 September, Parliament adopted a resolution which urged the European Commission to present various initiatives aimed at greater effectiveness in the fight against terrorism in the European Union. We must continue to work in the direction which you and the European Commission indicated at that time. Accordingly, on the basis of the rule of law, we need to press ahead with the Plan of Action against terrorism in the European Union to ensure that there can be no sanctuary for terror within our borders. In December 2001 we achieved great progress in this area. All the Institutions of the Union, and especially the Presidency and Parliament, now need to work to ensure that the instruments approved on that occasion come into effect as quickly as possible. However, those instruments will not prove effective unless we also achieve closer cooperation between the institutions and the security forces of the EU Member States. The Presidency therefore considers it a priority that joint investigation teams be set up rapidly, that Europol’s work be made more effective and that action be taken to prevent the funding of terrorists and of those who shelter or support them."@en1
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