Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-23-Speech-4-013"
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"en.20050623.4.4-013"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, Prime Minister, for speaking with such frankness. Yours was the sort of frank speech that does one good, and I know that you are the sort of man who can take that sort of language, so I will start with some: John Major may well have been a great Briton, but your beating him gave us particular pleasure.
If, Mr Blair, you want to make the European Union deeper, then we are right alongside you. I am grateful to you for having, here in this Chamber today, committed yourself to the Constitution. I was there as a witness when you signed it in Rome, and I think it is marvellous how the United Kingdom, under your presidency of the Council, is committing itself to the Constitution; there are quite enough people who are committing themselves to it in public and doing something different behind the scenes. We have had our fill of politicians who, by their words, throw spanners in the works of European integration and then complain that the European engine is faltering; I find it highly praiseworthy that you should distinguish yourself from them this morning, and for that I am grateful to you, for what is crucial is that we speak frankly and are open and honest in debating the future of Europe.
Let me draw to a close by saying that, if you are willing to compromise on the Budget, the services directive and the working time directive, then we will back you in that. Yet the credibility of your own demand for a compromise, Mr President-in-Office and Prime Minister, is always in proportion to your own willingness to enter into one. At some point, then, you must say what you are willing to contribute. To let others make their move before considering making your own may well be the right thing for a British Prime Minister to do, but it is not enough for the President of the Council of the European Union.
Note well from whom you get applause; it is the Right wing in this House that has just applauded you. They have chosen not to hear you say that we want to welcome Turkey into the European Union. It is those who are sitting on this side of the House who will be the first to embrace you for saying that. Thank you for your attention.
Today, Mr Blair, sees not only the beginning of your Presidency of the Council, but also – and this should not be forgotten – the beginning of another great European event, the Tour de France, and when I apply what I think about the Tour de France to the United Kingdom, I have to say that the UK has, in the last few years, always rather pedalled along at the rear of the pack. If you think back to Schengen, or to the euro, Great Britain was always, one might say, just before the follow-up vehicle. Now, Mr Blair, you must place yourself at the head of the pack, and on a mountain stretch too! We are just coming up to Alpe d’Huez, and I think you should bear in mind that the winner of the Tour gets to wear the
only if he makes it through the whole distance and wins every stage. Today sees the beginning of the
a short time-trial that has augured well for the future, and, as we discuss your performance in it, let us consider carefully what you actually said.
You are right to say, Mr Blair, that the time is ripe for reforms and changes. That is indeed the case. I quite clearly heard you say that this is not the time for accusing those who want to change Europe of betraying it. You are right in that, but this is not the time either to put those who want to defend our European social model into a museum – you are right there too. Improving our people’s living conditions is dependent upon change, and, while you are right to say that Europe needs more flexibility and more competitiveness both at home and abroad, it needs them because something nobody can dispense with depends upon them. By that I mean the growth that they create, which itself is needed in order to create jobs, but not only for their own sake; they must be worthwhile jobs, secure and properly paid so as to enable people to live decently from them – that is what we, in Europe, are aiming for!
And, if the change you seek is none other than that very change in the European Union, then Tony Blair the Socialist will have Europe’s Socialists side by side with him – of that you may be certain.
We must be precise in the debate on reforms in which we are engaged. You, Mr President-in-Office and Prime Minister, are right, and Mr Poettering – whom you really did manage to get worked up today – found the right way of saying it: there are debates that have to be conducted, and they have to be conducted here. We must, however, conduct them in such a manner that the public can understand what they are about, and that is where we must not confuse one thing with another. Yes, Mr Blair, of course we have to reform the common agricultural policy, and yes, of course, we need to spend more on research and development. What we must not do, though, is act as if agriculture were the only thing going on in Europe, and there were no research and development being done.
Our Budget expert, Mr Walter, gave our group some more figures yesterday, and I want to run through them again briefly. Taking all agricultural expenditure together, we, in the European Union as a whole, spend 0.48% of Europe’s total gross domestic product on agriculture. Add together what the EU and all its Member States spend on research and development, and it works out that, even now, that figure reaches 0.86%.
That figure must be increased – you are right in saying that – and there is room for reform in agriculture, but these are long drawn-out processes and our credibility depends on our not acting as if Europe amounted to no more than agriculture, without research or development."@en1
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