Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-11-Speech-2-017"
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"en.20050111.5.2-017"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Poettering properly reminds us that when Parliament reacted to previous reforms of the Treaties, the resolutions adopted were peppered with regrets, criticisms and things that we deplore, plus demands for further reform. This time, we are not obliged to do this because we ourselves have been prominently involved in the drafting of the reforms, both in the Convention and the IGC.
This report by Mr Corbett and Mr Méndez de Vigo gets the story right and I am pleased to say that all Members of my Group who will be speaking today will be speaking in favour of this resolution. Thereafter we will be out campaigning for the entry into force inside the Member States where referenda are to be held, including in France – to oppose certain factions of the left – and in Britain, where we will be fighting to oppose the right.
The principal argument for this great reform is clearly that it strengthens the European Union. It strengthens our capacity to act abroad and inside our Member States, making us prepared to stand on our own feet in world affairs, shaping Europe's response to globalisation politically.
The Constitution redefines the European Union. It strikes a balance between states – the old and the new, the large and the small – between citizens and the authorities and, as Mr Giscard d'Estaing has said, between dream and reality. It has created a fresh, large consensus behind the project of European integration.
A word to those such as the British Conservatives who carp on the sidelines: if you are for Europe, you should be for the Constitution. Europe cannot be constructed without clear, liberal and social values, strong rules and robust parliamentary democracy. Europe will not work without strong authorities in Brussels. Without the Constitution, things will not work properly and the quality of policy flowing from Brussels and Strasbourg will begin to decline. Future expansion will be out of the question and I cannot believe that is what the British Conservative Party really believes in. But Europe cannot work either without strong leadership. This Parliament must learn to fill some of the strategic space that the reforms begin to open up for us.
We have many new powers, including, importantly, the right to propose a reform – a reform in the future of the Constitution itself. The Commission must assert itself quickly as the new arrangements for the Foreign Minister and the Foreign Service, the team presidency and especially the so-called full-time President of the European Council are put in place. The prime ministers and presidents must coordinate their campaigns. I am pleased to hear what Mr Schmit said on that. They must shoulder their individual and collective responsibility to win these referendum campaigns by showing the voters why these reforms are for them and why this is truly the Constitution for Europe."@en1
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