Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-13-Speech-3-026"
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"en.20041013.3.3-026"2
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"Mr President, Mr Prodi, over the past five years your relations with the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance have been through good times and difficult times, as is normal, but allow me to say that, in the light of these weeks’ hearings, I am sure – or rather, I should say I fear – that many of us are going to miss your Commission, particularly some of its members, and this is certainly not good news for Europe or for us.
We acknowledge the fact that during the reform of the European Union and the work of the Convention, you and your Commission have been able to steer a straight course towards the strengthening and democratisation of the European Union, even amidst attacks not only on you personally, but also on the very existence of an autonomous and truly European institution such as yours. I must say – and here I am in agreement with Mr Schultz – that your position on Iraq was also clear and that we agreed with it.
This, however, did not help to avoid the war because the European Union as a whole refused once again to speak with one voice and to organise itself in such a way as to be able to speak with one voice on issues of war and peace.
We also acknowledge the fact that your Commission was able to resist the pressures of those governments – which I can only describe as miserly and short-sighted – who think that they can make Europe progress while keeping its budget under 1%. Let us hope, indeed, that your successor will be able to hold a firm line on this point.
Your Commission, as has already been said, is the Commission of the enlargement and in this connection we too recognise the enormous amount of work that has also been done in preparation for the next, future enlargements, particularly with regard to Turkey. I will not, however, hide from you our disappointment at the failure to solve the Cyprus issue, regarding which we had long been asking for a firmer initiative from the Commission, which unfortunately was not forthcoming.
We have certainly welcomed your leadership and that of the majority of your Commission – not all, alas, and here I refer particularly to Commissioner de Palacio – on the issue of the Kyoto protocol and on climate change in general. Naturally, we would very much have liked the Commission to have proposed a Stability Pact on climate change too, an honest-to-goodness plan, with clear figures and sanctions. This did not happen, but we hope to succeed in bringing this about in the future.
With regard to the Stability Pact, as you know and as you remember, we very strongly supported your description of it as stupid. But there was no immediate initiative. We agree and are fairly satisfied with the proposal which your Commission has put forward in this regard, but it has come too late, following a serious crisis within the European Union.
On at least three issues, however, we have found ourselves on opposing sides. We regret this, and hope to convince not only you but also your successor. The first issue on which there was serious conflict with our group was undoubtedly genetically modified organisms: it was an error to lift the moratorium and I believe that EU citizens are aware of this. Then, in relation to the issue of energy and the environment, very little has been done with regard to stepping up the role of renewable energies, which over these last five years have remained a little like the Cinderella of the debate. Finally, Mr President, the PNR affair. In our view it was a grave error on the Commission’s part to concentrate on a procedure which definitively and very clearly excluded Parliament from participation in an issue which affects citizens’ rights very closely. Let us hope that we no longer have to deal with a Commission that believes that Parliament should not have a say on such matters."@en1
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