Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-057"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2000-04-12"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:IGC2
dcterms:Language	"sv"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20000412.2.3-057"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2000-04-12-Speech-3-0582
lpv:speaker	lp:Cecilia Malmström2
lpv:spokenAs	member; AFCO (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Folkpartiet liberalerna (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 vice-chair; Delegation to the EU-Hungary Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-09-29--2002-01-14)3 member_of_the_bureau; ELDR (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, the EU is faced with enormous challenges. In just a few years’ time, the Union is to be enlarged to include almost double the number of Member States. The euro is to be introduced. We are to have a security policy worthy of the name, implement administrative reforms and, hopefully, win back some of the confidence our citizens have lost in the European project. The Intergovernmental Conference should prepare the EU for these changes. It provides us with the opportunity to adapt our work to the new Member States and to the new tasks we have before us. It is a question of finding a balance between democracy and efficiency and of maintaining the historic balance between small and large countries. These are the questions which remain following the conclusion of the Treaty of Amsterdam. It is important in these discussions not to become lost in technical details and lose sight of the goal – that of making the EU more open, more efficient and more intelligible. We must all make sacrifices in order to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, governments appear to have lost sight of this goal. The Intergovernmental Conference is making only limited progress, which is not the fault of the Portuguese Presidency. Probably what will happen is what usually happens: at five minutes to midnight on the last day, a compromise will be reached with which no-one is entirely satisfied. The talk is already of the next Intergovernmental Conference where the major questions will be solved. We have heard this before. There is starting to be a surfeit of half-baked intergovernmental conferences. Our citizens have higher expectations than that, and we do not have much time. That is why we have to take the opportunity now. The EU must be changed in the way we Liberals have demanded, that is to say in the direction of transparency, public control, more explicit accountability, a clearer distribution of competences and a common constitution. Quite simply, the EU must become more liberal. The report includes many of our amendments, and I support these with few exceptions. The challenges faced by the EU are exciting and historic. They should inspire us all to roll up our shirt sleeves. We are in a position to create something unique: democratic, competitive and peaceful cooperation throughout the continent. Instead, however, of awakening hope and enthusiasm, present developments appear, rather, to be giving rise to anxiety among governments. One might well ask what has become of political leadership and vision."@en1
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"then"1

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