Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-17-Speech-3-010"
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"en.20070117.3.3-010"2
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Mr President, Madam Federal Chancellor, I would like to start by extending a very warm welcome to Mrs Merkel and wishing her and her team every success in the course of their presidency of the Council, before reiterating my congratulations to Mr Poettering on his new office. Both of you will be able to count on the Commission’s full support. Europe’s success depends on our sticking together.
A single market in practice as well as on paper, to give real choice to European Union energy users and to trigger investment. This will require a clearer separation of energy production from energy distribution, and stronger independent regulatory control with a European dimension.
The Commission also makes proposals on improved interconnections, on transparency and on a new Customers’ Energy Charter. A 20 % target for energy efficiency by 2020, with detailed proposals for how to get there. A new drive for clean energy, through a binding commitment to triple renewable energy use by 2020. A 50 % annual increase in the energy research budget and commitments to advance clean hydrocarbon technology. There is a role for the European Institute of Technology in this.
It is essential to hear Parliament’s voice on these issues in the run-up to the March European Council. The European Union could find no better way to launch its anniversary than by showing its ambitions for the future and to make it clear that today climate change is one of the most important challenges – if not the most important challenge – we face in this 21st century.
This is indeed the first part of the twin-track approach of policy delivery for Europe’s citizens alongside working towards a constitutional settlement, starting with the Berlin Declaration: a declaration on the future of Europe which the Commission proposed last May, and the European Council agreed in June.
I believe the Berlin Declaration is an opportunity for the Member States to commit themselves to the values and aims of the European Union. It must look forward and deliver a political statement about the Europe we want for the next 50 years and, as I proposed last May, it must fully involve Parliament and the Commission because, now, we are no longer only an economic community but also a political community, and only by involving the three main institutions – Parliament, the Council and the Commission – can we do what our founding fathers did 50 years ago to show our political will for the next 50 years.
It provides an opportunity for the 12 Member States that joined in 2004 and 2007 to contribute, as full members, to the vision of our common future. This time they will not only sign up to what has been agreed but will also have a say on the Europe we all want to build. It is appropriate that this Declaration – a declaration for the future of Europe – will be signed in Berlin, the symbol of a reunited Europe, a Europe reunited in the values of freedom, peace and the rule of law.
What should the Declaration say? I think today’s leaders should stand on the shoulders of the founding fathers and look ahead to the next 50 years – to the challenges which could not be imagined in 1957 but which Europe must face in 2007. Put simply, they must equip Europeans for globalisation, in a Europe of open economies, open societies, in a Europe which must engage with citizens, not ignore them. A Europe built on citizens’ consent has solid foundations. A Europe which does not work for that consent is built on sand.
I have five practical proposals for this Declaration. First, solidarity: an enlarged and open Europe requires greater cohesion – social cohesion as well as economic.
Second, sustainability: the fight against climate change, through energy and other policies, should be a defining mission for Europe’s future. This was not perceived as a priority in 1957. This must be a priority in the Declaration and in the constitutional settlement in 2007.
Third, accountability, transparency and access to information should become not only rights for European citizens but also obligations for Europe’s institutions. At the beginning of the European Community, that could be done diplomatically, but today diplomacy is not enough: we need real democracy.
Fourth, security: Europe must guarantee the security of its citizens whilst preserving fundamental freedoms.
Fifth, the external dimension: promoting Europe’s values in the world, as well as its interests. Sustainability, accountability, solidarity and security cannot – indeed, must not – stop at Europe’s borders. I believe the European citizens want us to have a more coherent approach on the global scene. This is also one of the reasons why we need a constitutional settlement.
These are five specific suggestions for the Berlin Declaration, a declaration which should create the momentum to settle the constitutional question. Chancellor Merkel has set out the Presidency’s ambitions. We need, by the end of the Presidency, a common roadmap towards an institutional settlement, before the next European elections in 2009.
However, not only do we need a roadmap; we also need a settlement to clear the clouds of doubt which hang over parts of Europe, to show vitality and confidence to our partners, and to make the European Union more transparent, more effective, more democratic and more coherent in the world. As I have said before, Nice is not enough.
Our task today is to show leadership, translating the principles and values that were at the core of the foundation of our Community for the global challenges of the 21st century. Europe was never more needed than today. We need it not only for ourselves but also for this unpredictable, unstable world. We cannot build tomorrow’s Europe with yesterday’s tools. We have a great opportunity to start changing that in the next six months. Let us go to work.
2007 is a crucial year. The 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaties is certainly a time to celebrate past achievements, but also to build on those achievements to the benefit of a new generation of Europeans, a generation for whom Europe’s original rationale is in the past, but for whom Europe can and does offer so much for the future.
It is a happy coincidence that this anniversary falls during the German Presidency. Many of our core policies – social and economic cohesion, the euro, the internal market, enlargement – owe much to Germany, and as Europeans, we should always have a word of gratitude for everything Germany has done for the great cause of European integration. As we have just heard from Chancellor Merkel, Germany’s commitment to Europe remains as powerful as ever.
The German Presidency offers an opportunity to demonstrate why the European Union matters so much in the age of globalisation. I agree with the priorities presented just now by Chancellor Merkel. Indeed, I welcome the fact that those priorities are now the priorities of a trio of Presidencies – that gives increased consistency and coherence to the work of the European Council. Therefore, I will not go into detail, but will just concentrate on two immediate priorities, bearing in mind our work leading up to the March European Council: energy and climate change, and the declaration that we hope to adopt in March.
Let us take the March European Council. The Commission’s proposals from last week on energy and climate change form a central part of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs. These are issues which touch the lives of every European, where Europe must continue to show leadership and where the European dimension is absolutely essential. We need that European dimension. You cannot tackle global warming, you cannot deliver sustainable, secure and competitive energy, without Europe. So what must be agreed at the European Council in March?
Firstly, we in the Commission believe that we should agree on the strategic goal of an agreement by developed countries to cut their emissions by 30 % by 2020, which is essential to ensuring that global temperatures exceed pre-industrial levels by no more than 2°C. This will be our first objective.
Europe must continue to lead, and to provide an incentive for others to follow. The leadership comes with the European Union commitment now to at least a 20 % cut in emissions by 2020; the incentive by making clear that we will go further if others join us. It is, after all, global warming, not just European warming. Others have to join our efforts.
Secondly, three pillars to deliver our objectives of sustainable, secure and competitive energy."@en1
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