Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-036"
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"en.20070314.4.3-036"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Steinmeier, Commissioner Verheugen, ladies and gentlemen, a summit is usually followed by long-winded conclusions in which we have to dig deep to find ambitions that are supported by the 27 Member States. This time, though, the conclusions are relatively short and definitely represent major steps forward. The European spring summit has exceeded our wildest expectations. Vision has been coupled with political courage, ambition with feasibility, credibility and – no small feat – decisiveness.
Vision and ambition with regard to sound policy is one thing, convincing people thereof and getting them on board is another. The crucial question, as Commissioner Verheugen was also right to point out, remains how we can get Europeans more involved in this whole Lisbon process. Whilst it is to be applauded that the summit conclusions call for further efforts in a bid to improve communication, this does not, of course, get us anywhere. It simply needs to happen and in this area, a huge number of opportunities have been missed in recent years.
I would therefore urge the Presidents of our three political institutions to give those 500 million Europeans, who hope for a prosperous and social future in a pleasant living climate for their children and their grandchildren, a place in the Berlin Declaration, to give them renewed confidence and faith in the added value of our common European project.
We in the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats would first of all like to pay tribute to the President of the Council, the German Federal Chancellor Mrs Merkel, and her team, and also to the Commission under its President, Mr Barroso, particularly Commissioner Dimas and Commissioner Piebalgs, who have launched the energy and climate package and have done everything in their power to achieve sound results. We are actually proud, I have to say, that our own group’s combined efforts at the top of our institutions, in harness with other partners of course, has yielded pleasant prospects.
We are still waiting for the rich rewards, though. The commitments have been made, but we still need to divide up the joys and the burdens, and I should like to wish the Commission much success in this arduous task. I hope that all Member States and all sections of society will be prepared to do their bit in making the tireless efforts that are needed.
As the world is watching Europe, it can see that Europe is facing up to its responsibility and that it is choosing to fulfil a credible pioneering role. As European partners, we have a duty, in unison, to bring maximum pressure to bear on our global partners in order for them to join us in this ambitious, but above all necessary, chapter.
Comparing our group’s points of departure prior to the spring summit with the results, I come to the conclusion that we would have preferred to see feasible, binding agreements rather than unrealistic, high-flown pie in the sky, and those, as a result of 20-20-20 decision, are what we have got, so that is a great success.
Research and development in the area of renewable energy and the fight against climate change go hand in hand with the Lisbon goals in terms of growth and employment. These, Commissioner Verheugen, should definitely be included. For the majority of our group, there is room for nuclear energy in the energy mix, even though we, just like the European Council, fully respect the principle of subsidiarity in this respect. Since we do not want Parliament to stand on the sidelines in the climate change issue, we want to give the setting up of an effectively-run temporary parliamentary committee on climate change our full backing.
During this spring summit, the emphasis was on energy and climate, although there is more to it than that, of course, for, after all, there is still a great need to keep the kettle of socio-economic reforms on the boil. We believe that the Lisbon process is starting to bear fruit, but there is no reason whatever to rest on our laurels at this stage, certainly not in those Member States that have run up government debts, experience low labour participation or have pension schemes that are not fully safeguarded.
We in the PPE-DE Group seek to steer clear of any form of complacency. Since economic prospects have improved somewhat, national reforms should not be delayed but should, if anything, be speeded up. We expect that the Commission will continue to display leadership and will, if necessary, confront the Member States with their trickery and shortcomings openly and without qualms.
We very much welcome the decisions surrounding the measurable reduction in the administrative burden and the prospect of an independent impact study in the case of fresh legislation."@en1
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