Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-21-Speech-3-029"
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"en.19990721.3.3-029"2
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"(NL) Mr President, the Presidency of the European Union has now passed from German into Finnish hands. It is now time to review the last six months and as well as assess the German Presidency.
We now face a situation in which the German Presidency has in fact already assessed its own performance. According to a recent statement by the German Minister of State Mr Verheugen, it has been a very successful six months. We find these sentiments repeated in the speech by Minister Fischer. I think some questions are in order here at the very least.
Firstly, the negotiations for Agenda 2000 produced an agreement that was only a watered-down version of the original ambitious proposals placed on the table by Germany. There is still the danger that whilst the agricultural sector is being reformed, there is no increase in opportunities for enlargement of the Union with countries from Central and Eastern Europe.
The nomination of Prodi as President of the European Commission and the recent events in Kosovo have also left their mark on the German Presidency. The rapidity with which Prodi was nominated was good, although it is certainly taking a very long time for the new European Commission to get up and running. Consequently, the European Commission"s work has been at a standstill for far too long. In addition, the war in Kosovo has greatly influenced the way in which the German Presidency has developed.
Chancellor Schröder also deserves praise for his work in this area, although of course the work of the United States and President Ahtisaari of Finland should not be forgotten. It has highlighted the fact that it is not easy to achieve one common European policy, but I"ve spoken on that subject before.
What really concerns us is the way in which the German Presidency in the Environment Council dealt with the draft Directive for the handling of end-of-life cars. Of all governments, we might have expected a green/red coalition to have taken the initiative here, rather than prove obstructive. After all, the German car industry doesn"t pull the German government"s strings.
The private chats between Germany, France and Great Britain also give cause for concern. For example, the posts of Prodi, Solana and Boisieur have recently been allocated during discussions entered into by these three big powers. If this is a sign of the way in which future posts are to be allocated, then this does not augur well for the small Member States. The Council of Ministers will have to become aware of this and adapt its policy so that it is possible to achieve an even distribution of positions across all Member States. As far as that is concerned, one of these small Member States, Finland, can endeavour to bring about change in the coming months. We shall just have to wait and see.
Preparations for the forthcoming IGC fall to the new Finnish Presidency. There are important items on the agenda for this and our group hopes that they will receive due attention."@en1
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"Blokland (EDD)"1
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