Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-058"
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"en.20000614.4.3-058"2
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"Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, I should like to welcome, as my colleague, Elmar Brok has just done, the progress that has been made in European defence and political unity.
I would like to remind you that during the tragedy in Bosnia it was said that Europe died in Sarajevo. It is my opinion that, in political and military terms, it had not even been born when that tragedy erupted. Europe awoke when the crisis in Kosovo arose. Europe spoke with one voice, as you have just said, Commissioner Patten. It made its voice heard, it stated the limits of what was tolerable and in the end took military action, all other political, economic and diplomatic pressure having failed. If, however, our American friends had not then joined the combat on our side, Europe would not have been able to act effectively.
It is this awareness of our dependence on the Americans – and that is not to blame the Americans in any way – which has brought about this sea change in European public opinion. This is not to blame the Americans for having gone into Kosovo with us, because I must remind you that, until they became involved in Bosnia-Herzegovina, people said that it was because there was no oil in Bosnia, whereas there was oil in Kuwait. Well, our American friends did join us in that war, but without them we would not have been able to perform that task as efficiently as we did.
Let us not harbour any illusions. The determination created as a result of that crisis, shared by more than two-thirds of public opinion in the Fifteen Member States of the Union, will not achieve results straightaway. It will take time – time and money. It will take time because, as you all know, it takes at least ten to fifteen years to develop an arms programme. In the meantime, it is quite clear that everything that has been done and all the decisions that have been taken, particularly in the area of our relationship with NATO, are quite satisfactory. It will require money, and I welcome the courage of our rapporteur, Mrs Lalumière, and join her in saying that we cannot achieve any more with the money that we have spent to date."@en1
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