Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-21-Speech-3-031"
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"en.19990721.3.3-031"2
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"(DE) Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the German Presidency has, of course, been overshadowed by the war in Kosovo, but that is all the more reason for keeping in mind that the Presidency of the Council, for which the German Federal Government was answerable, was only able to maintain its position in this matter because it had the unqualified support of the Parties of the Union, whilst your own supporters, Mr Fischer, would have taken pleasure in knocking your trainers from under you, had you still been wearing them of course.
The Council Presidency"s track record is questionable, and it is in fact only the Council Presidency itself which disputes this. Let us have a look at the outcome of Agenda 2000 for example. This is not a decent compromise, but a shaky foundation. It will not even withstand the onslaught of the first WTO negotiations. This holds true for the problems associated with agriculture as well, which are far from being resolved, and which have not provided any scope for enlargement whatsoever. All that was achieved was a worsening of the situation in terms of farmers" income. The promising attempt at a solution in the form of co-financing was allowed to slip out of sight at the very beginning, which was an amateurish way to proceed. At first, the German Chancellor stirred up the question of net contributions and the overhaul of the financial framework, particularly in the German public arena, and then, when it came to solving these problems, he failed miserably.
Institutional progress? Wrong! Everything has been postponed for the future and for future conferences. The single currency, Minister Fischer, which you have rightly claimed to be one of Europe"s great achievements, obviously wasn"t even important enough in the eyes of the Finance Minister, who had responsibility for this matter at the time, for him to attend the first important session. That is also something which should not be forgotten. And where exactly did the gossip concerning the independence of the European Central Bank come from, which was to contribute not least towards the weakening of the euro against foreign currencies, and to the fact that only now, much to our relief, is it beginning to pick up again.
This Council Presidency"s track record is problematic due, in particular, to the fact that like few before it, it failed to act in a way which was beneficial to the Community. A particular instance of this can be seen in the case of the withdrawn Regulation on end-of-life cars. This was not dealt with in a way which was beneficial to the Community, and it was left to Mr Trittin to play the role of the fanatic, a role which obviously comes very naturally to him.
No, this Presidency of the Council has forfeited the trust built up by many previous Chancellors over the years, and therefore it is particularly appropriate that we should examine the events of the last six months with a critical eye. We cannot talk in terms of success.
(Applause)"@en1
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"Nassauer (PPE)"1
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