Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20070711.4.3-013"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, almost exactly one year ago, on 1 July last year, there was an excellent football match that Portugal won in a penalty shootout after extra time. It was a remarkable game. The Portuguese kept their nerve and every penalty went in. The ball is now in position for our penalty shot. You have said everything there is to say about the Intergovernmental Conference. Now you need to get the ball in the net. From this morning's speech, I suspect that your nerves are as steely as those of the Portuguese football team. If you score this time, in October you will win the trophy.
If, as you quite rightly said, President-in-Office, we are looking for a subject that forces us to act as a Community, and a Community of 27, and where there is massive popular support, then climate protection is it. The Live Earth concert last weekend clearly showed us how enthusiastically young people will champion a cause. So let us harness that enthusiasm. These young people go to the concert, and when it is over, they ask: and what now?
Bono and Herbert Grönemeyer do not have the solution. They can champion a solution, but it is up to us to provide it through practical actions. If we offer that solution, though, if we actually implement the ambitious targets, then I am certain that the people of Europe will be behind us, and that is exactly what the European project needs.
When I talk about climate protection, Prime Minister, I am very grateful for your strategy on Africa and Latin America, because climate protection will only be feasible if we involve Africa and Latin America. In the case of Africa we need to recognise the bitter truth that the continent is most affected by global warning, despite making the least contribution to that global warming. This is a significant factor in the Africans' plight.
I am very grateful for your position on Latin America too: the European Union's transatlantic relations go far beyond our relationship with the United States of America. Above all, it is incumbent upon us to support Latin America in finding multilateral solutions to international conflicts, in United Nations reform, and in combating financial crises triggered by the financial markets. Which countries were most affected? Argentina, and also Brazil. It is vital that we in Europe work with the Latin Americans. My group will be running with and supporting this initiative in the autumn, and we are very grateful to you for organising the summit.
There are some people in this House who immediately get twitchy if there are two speakers in a row from the same country. Mr President, today we have seen a Portuguese President-in-Office of the Council from the left and a former President-in-Office from the right working together for Europe. I think that is worthy of note. Overcoming issues that divide us at home in order to work together for a Europe for everyone else, this sense of common ground, of setting aside our differences, is what defines the notion of Europe. That is exactly what we need to build a stronger Europe, because as you quite rightly said, not only Europe itself, but the whole world, needs a strong and united Europe. That can only be achieved by resolving our differences, and concentrating on what unites us. So I wish you all the best for your Presidency.
We are realists, Prime Minister Sócrates: there is not as much in the mandate as we might have hoped, but we accept that no more could have been achieved in the negotiations. However, there is a good deal in the mandate. You need to make it clear to all participants in the Intergovernmental Conference that there can be no going back on what has been agreed.
I have a comment to make to my fellow Member, Joseph Daul, at this point. I have certainly noted that this is the position of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, and I hope that all sections of the PPE-DE Group, right through to the committee chairmen in your group, will take the same view.
The higher the committee, the less I am certain.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what would happen if we went backwards? We would find ourselves in another crisis situation like the one we have just resolved. And if we are in a crisis, President-in-Office, then the laudable objectives you have just described would again be out of our reach. How can we really implement a cohesive Lisbon Strategy with a two-speed Europe? The two are mutually exclusive.
You are quite right: we need to breathe new life into the Lisbon Strategy. Three years ago, a decision was taken to revitalise the Lisbon Strategy. Three years down the line, we have not made much progress. It is good that you are saying as President-in-Office of the Council we are going to get our heads down and get things moving, speed things up. There are two main reasons for speeding things up, though: you are quite right to say that we want to focus on qualifications. If we want to become the most competitive knowledge-based continent, we need to focus on qualifications. What we want from the Lisbon Strategy, above all, is social stability.
If we have greater economic growth – which we do, there are more jobs, and the reforms are taking effect, in fact thanks to Gerhard Schröder's Government, they are already having an impact in my country – if we have more jobs, then there is one thing we need above all: for that growth to be sustainable and to bring sustainable social stability. Otherwise the Lisbon Strategy is worthless."@en1
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