Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-039"
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"en.20000216.2.3-039"2
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"Mr President, we certainly must concede that, on balance, this text is full of good intentions, but we did not vote in favour of it in committee, nor shall we do so in plenary. We had two reasons for this, both of which gave rise to amendments which I should like to explain here very briefly.
First, the Committee on Development and Cooperation advocates the communitisation of the EDF; clearly that is misguided. In our view, cooperation is, and should remain, an intergovernmental exercise. With Europe preparing to enlarge, communitising the EDF would make it easy to hide a lack of commitment behind the screen of the Community budget, quite apart from the fact that we would be wasting a fruitful and promising opportunity of associating our southern partners with our cooperation policy. Lastly, the Commission has, in the recent past, had trouble managing the funds for development and humanitarian aid transparently, as Mrs Maes has just reminded us so opportunely. Why should we add to them?
Secondly, we find it most regrettable that Mr Corrie’s report should mention the trade and development agreement with South Africa because, in the final analysis, this report is typical of the amateur diplomacy to which the European Commission is taking ever more frequent recourse. It is perfectly astounding that the Union could have negotiated an agreement on behalf of the Member States in which a fundamental section is quite simply left blank. And let me say in passing, it is even more astonishing that the Council allowed it to.
As a result, we are now in the absurd position of negotiating from a position of weakness on vital aspects such as wine and agricultural production within the framework of an agreement which we have already signed. The part of this agreement which blocks negotiations could mean that the Union ends up paying producers to stop producing sherry, port and a whole host of products which are purely and simply copies under international commercial law. Imagine the potential cost of such a precedent.
It is proof, as if we still needed it, of the fact that immature diplomacy, which defends no interests, unless of course they are individual interests, and is caught between the dogma of free trade and pressure groups and more or less friendly NGOs, is not just inefficient, it is positively dangerous.
Finally, a word on the general thinking behind the Corrie report. Nowadays, let us face it, the Joint Assembly is seen as an obstacle to free international trade by the dogmatisers in Geneva and Washington. It was a chance to reiterate that our original and exemplary mode of cooperation with the southern countries should be developed and strengthened. The Corrie report missed this chance and we must, regrettably, punish it for losing so much."@en1
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