Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-326"
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"en.20051116.21.3-326"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission Green Paper and the Wuermeling report, in particular, respond to the wishes of the population: the European public. The public’s answer to the question as to what objectives the EU should set itself is that it should become a Security and Defence Union. When the public is asked what it wants, its reply is: a common foreign policy represented by one face and one person, not 25 vested national interests.
When we look at how the security environment has changed, we do have to ask ourselves the question whether each Member State alone is capable of ensuring sufficient security given the general atmosphere prevailing and the present financial situation of the Member States. The answer is ‘no’. That is why we need more Europe in this field, not necessarily more money. If, however, we need more Europe but do not have any additional money, we must change our behaviour somewhat.
We want a common foreign and security policy, we want the evolution of the EU into a political union, we want a strong internal market and we want to reduce our dependence on the United States. What needs to be done, therefore? We need common European technological standards in this field, to enable and strengthen cooperation. We need to create common defence structures, which are important as regards enhanced political cooperation, integration and solidarity.
Of course, in view of the maxim ‘more Europe, but not more money’, we need to make more efficient use of defence resources, increase the competitiveness of the European Union, improve military equipment and reduce costs, increase the European dimension in the field of equipment and training, improve cooperation and thus help increase efficiency.
This debate has shown that we need to increase the European dimension; which may also explain the absence of the Council, because although the large Member States, in particular – I am thinking here of the United Kingdom and France – talk a great deal about common ground, they rank among the stumbling blocks on the path to a stronger Commission in this field."@en1
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