Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-020"
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"en.20071212.2.3-020"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office, President of the Commission, it is the crowning achievement of the Portuguese Presidency that the Treaty of Lisbon is now ready to be signed, and many Members of this Parliament have certainly played their part too.
One of the functions of the Treaty of Lisbon is to strengthen the common foreign and security policy of the EU and to create an institutional basis for it. A treaty, however, can only create the right conditions, and the will and vigour to pursue a common foreign and security policy are essential too.
It is correct, as some speakers have said, that at this particular juncture, when the Treaty is being signed, Kosovo will be a test of the Member States’ resolve to pursue a common foreign and security policy. Whatever we decide with regard to Kosovo will pose problems in that region.
There is no new third option, as Mr Cohn-Bendit suggested, because a third option, namely devoting a great deal of money and initiative to that region, has already been pursued for some time. There is only the option of independence for Kosovo, which will then give rise to a number of problems in the region, or else we could decide not to recognise an independent Kosovo, which would also give rise to a number of problems in the region.
It is quite clear, in my view, that we must abide by the principle that every step which is taken in the coming weeks and months must come from within the region and be taken together with the European Union. That cannot happen, however, unless the European Union has a common position on this issue.
On the basis of my own experience – and I have been working in that region on behalf of the European Parliament for ten years now – I see only one feasible option, which is to move in the immediate future towards limited, restricted and supervised independence. I firmly believe, however, that it would be absolutely intolerable and unacceptable if Kosovo declared its independence unilaterally and we more or less acquiesced. Many politicians from Kosovo are also saying that this process can be jointly pursued. I saw that at first hand during the recent elections there. The process can be brought to fruition if the European Union opts for a joint approach.
In the closing days of this Presidency, may I also ask the Council to ensure that there is a common European line, that the common responsibility for that region is exercised by all parties and that all steps that are taken in the coming weeks and months are accompanied by an EU presence in Kosovo. That is the main requirement. The decisive factor will not be recognition of Kosovo’s independence but energetic representation of EU security policy in Kosovo, and the Portuguese President of the Council must play his part in making that a reality."@en1
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