Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-10-Speech-3-020"
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"en.20040310.1.3-020"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I can agree with Mr Poettering’s initial statements praising the Irish Presidency and praising the achievements of one of the EU’s smaller countries. This shows us clearly that it would be a mistake to end the system of rotating the Presidency.
I also appreciate Mr Barón Crespo’s quotation from Victor Hugo, saying ‘the future belongs to the brave’. I often compare the process of European integration with the epic poem on the discoveries, in which the great sixteenth century Portuguese poet, Camões, said that we were sailing ‘on hitherto uncharted waters’. We must indeed maintain this openness of spirit, this daring and this capacity for adventure.
We also need to take care to ensure that the ship does not run aground; we must ensure that the crew is informed and motivated and does not start a mutiny. I am therefore concerned to see that, following a period of some secrecy, it should be announced that the IGC might be concluded hastily. This could be a life-saver for those who wish to base their campaign in the European elections on euro-scepticism, because public opinion is barely interested at the moment and we still do not know precisely what was put forward in the first phase of the IGC under the Italian Presidency.
Many people have spoken about the issue of qualified majority voting, but I would remind you that this was not the only matter discussed. Also on the table were the composition of the Commission, the issue of the Union’s Presidency, defining certain competences, in the field of fisheries and marine resources, for example, the fundamental principle of the equality of States, clarifying the precise scope of the principle of the primacy of Community law, transparency and openness in the Council’s legislative workings and deliberations, the preamble and the express reference to the legacy of Christianity and the limitation on the flexibility or
clauses. In other words, the agenda is enormous and I therefore support and understand the words of the President of the Portuguese Republic, whose pro-European feelings are well known, calling a week ago for more time to allow the negotiations on the European Constitution to take place. He criticised the fact that things are being done under pressure, called for more time and asked us to concentrate on the immediate problems such as the Lisbon Strategy, enlargement and negotiations on the new Community support framework."@en1
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