Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-042"
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"en.20071023.7.2-042"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-office of the Council, President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, it is primarily my own satisfaction and that of my group that I would like to express. Satisfaction at the result obtained last Thursday in Lisbon, and satisfaction at the road Angela Merkel set out on and Mr Sócrates continues to travel.
By equipping itself with the institutional tools it needs to function, Europe is finally acquiring the means to meet the major challenges of the 21st century. That was our wish. For this reason, we have supported this text since the start of its preparation, though as you know, most of us would have preferred a still more ambitious text. This Treaty is arousing criticism here and there. Personally I welcome the agreement reached in Lisbon, as it signals the start of a new European dynamic.
Simplified Treaty, Reform or Reforming Treaty, Modified or Modifying Treaty, the name matters little. What matters is not the box itself but what is in the box. This Treaty will be officially signed in Lisbon on 13 December. That is an excellent date. The number 13 has always brought me luck. Look at my date of birth; I was born on the 13th, so it is excellent. It will then have to be ratified by all the Member States before the 2009 European elections. Some have already made it known that the process will begin the day after the signature in Lisbon, and I am delighted about this.
To the heads of state or government of the European Union I would just like to say that it is important for this Treaty to be the basis of a European project founded on the true membership of its citizens. The EU institutions and Member States must try to achieve this by explaining, then by explaining and finally by explaining some more. What does this mean? It means giving substance to the provisions of the Treaty that affect the democratic life of the Union. The citizens’ initiative and the involvement of the national parliaments mean that information will have to be provided about the content of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which enshrines the essential rights of European citizens.
However, it also means providing better information to our citizens about who the elected representatives in this Parliament are – there will be 751 of them in 2009 – and what they do. It means explaining how qualified majority voting, which will become the rule, will enable Europe to act in new areas such as judicial and police cooperation, environmental protection, economic policy and immigration. It also means explaining to our partners on the international stage that a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who will also be Vice-President of the European Commission from 1 January 2009, will be the primary contact, along with the President of the Council, who will be elected for two and a half years and will facilitate cohesion and consensus within the European Union so it can finally speak with one voice.
If the Treaty of Lisbon promises that the European Union will be more democratic, more transparent, more effective and more capable of acting as a single political entity on the international stage, it is to its citizens that this needs to be explained first of all.
Thanks to this Treaty, Europe will finally be able to move from discussion to action. It will be able to begin far-reaching and necessary reforms to effectively combat crime and terrorist threats. It will also be able to affirm its role as a world leader in the fight against climate change.
Ladies and gentlemen, when dealing with our international partners on such important challenges, we cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in unproductive divisions any longer. The journey that began in Berlin, that has stopped over in Lisbon and will pass through Ljubljana and Paris, is heading in the right direction because it is finally laying foundations for consistent European policies; policies that should aim primarily for the protection, well-being and prosperity of citizens who are demanding even more of Europe, as our Polish friends who turned out en masse to vote have shown us. For them and for all the others, let us live up to expectations."@en1
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