Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-021"
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"The Feira Council should also put ‘enhanced cooperations’ on the agenda of the Conference, as the Commission and Parliament have been taking turns to advocate, so that it is easier to use these ‘enhanced cooperations’ in the future. And yes, I did indeed say ‘these cooperations’, not reinforced cooperation. That is a crucial point for us as well.
That said, from now on, we who are already in the Union must set out to explain the coming great enlargement better and give the citizens of our countries better information about it. We should debate the advantages and the changes involved in it with them. That is what the initiative taken with you by Günther Verheugen is about, and we attach great importance to this public debate he will be taking part in, because we are aware of a feeling of disquiet among citizens in all our countries, a need to understand, and a growing sensitivity to the issue of enlargement. It is better to prevent any damage that might be caused by lack of explanation or debate rather than have to repair it.
In the area of European security and defence policy, the Commission is happy with the decisions taken since the Helsinki European Council. The temporary bodies are in place within the Council and the development of the overall capacity target is making encouraging progress. The defence ministers have been involved in that work and at Feira the European Council will be presented with a progress report measuring, as you said, Minister, what has been accomplished under the Portuguese Presidency, and it will draw up guidelines for the work ahead.
The Commission is contributing actively to these developments, in particular as regards civilian crisis management. On this point, Chris Patten recently submitted a proposal for a regulation to the Council, to create a rapid reaction force. The Commission has also undertaken an in-depth review of its own organisation and procedures in the area of foreign policy, in order to adapt them to these new challenges. I would like to stress that the Commission’s work is complementary to all the developments in European security and defence policy. Coherence is absolutely essential and the institutions must work together on this.
Under foreign policy, the European Council will in particular be debating the situation in the Western Balkans and the implementation of the common strategy towards Russia. The Council should also adopt the common strategy for the Mediterranean region. For the Western Balkans, the Commission will continue to work with the Member States and with the Secretary General, Javier Solana, to achieve a rapprochement, a real rapprochement, between the countries concerned and the European Union, through a stabilisation and association process. On Russia, the Feira Council will finalise the Union’s common strategy towards that country just a few months after the inauguration of President Putin’s new government and his declaration of intent to introduce economic and political reforms. Ladies and gentlemen, despite certain positive economic and political signals, the situation in Chechnya continues to call for prudence and vigilance at this stage.
As regards the Middle East, let me mention two major events which have changed the face of politics there in the last few weeks, so that, although the situation in the region is currently delicate, there are grounds for hope. First, the European Commission, along with the entire international community, was delighted at the Israeli Government’s decision of 24 May to withdraw from South Lebanon, in line with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426. We should pay tribute to the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Ehud Barak, for having taken this difficult decision after 22 years of occupation. In the immediate future, it is essential that all the parties concerned refrain from any act of violence, either inside or outside Lebanon, and cooperate with the United Nations forces. As for the Union, it will assist the reconstruction of South Lebanon as soon as conditions allow. The Commission has already sent a mission to evaluate reconstruction needs in situ.
Likewise, following the death of President Harez el Assad, the Union must also encourage a smooth political transition process in Syria, as well as continuing economic reform and modernisation in that country through a strengthening of the rule of law, through a strengthening of human rights and through political pluralism. Talks between Syria and Israel will be able to find fresh impetus in this new political context and could lead to a just and durable peace agreement.
Finally, the Feira European Council’s agenda will include the common Mediterranean strategy, which many of you, quite rightly, value highly. Not only will it contribute to strengthening the Barcelona process with a view to the forthcoming Euro-Mediterranean Summit in Marseilles, it will also help consolidate the European Union’s contribution to the peace process.
Finally, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk about the effective and rapid follow-up to the Lisbon European Council, which the Commission is very committed to, just as it is committed to the proper preparation of this Council. At Lisbon, we set ourselves a very ambitious objective, complete with targets and a timetable: to promote the transformation of the European economy and European society over the next ten years. Since then, the European economy has shown continuous improvement. That is reflected in falling unemployment rates everywhere, even though there are still too many pockets of poverty within the Member States. In this improved context, the Commission, the Council and Parliament must act together to make the Lisbon objectives a reality, not contenting ourselves with words and hopes, but putting them into practice. Progress has already been made.
Together with the Council, we have presented a draft action plan to make the
Europe initiative a reality as from 2002. Feira should approve this plan and I want to underline two key factors in the programme presented by Erkki Liikanen: first the reform of the regulatory environment for communications and electronic commerce, then, access for all citizens, especially young people, to the resources and qualifications needed in the communication and information age. In particular, implementation of the
Learning initiative recently proposed by my colleague Viviane Reding will help achieve this.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission, its President and all the commissioners, are naturally determined to deliver what the Council and this House expects of them and to do so within the deadlines.
In addition to those comments, and in answer to Mr Napolitano’s questions, I would like to say this. Ladies and gentlemen, you need have no doubt that the Commission definitely intends to keep on working towards what must be our ambition for this Conference: success in Nice, not just reaching a conclusion in Nice, because succeeding and concluding are two different things.
In the debate now in progress about the future and purpose of the European Union, the essential first stage is definitely putting the Union into working order now to make the enlargement a success. And I want to reaffirm my conviction that this reform of the institutions is certainly not, in our view, a pretext for delaying enlargement. It is the condition for making it a success. So that reform is also the obligatory route for all future evolution in the construction of Europe. This first stage, this first step, must be respected, in the knowledge that there will be others.
From amongst the issues we, like you, are committed to, I would like to mention the reform of the Treaties. Although this is not – or not yet – on the agenda, it is something we are working on. The draft basic treaty, presented at our request by the Institute of Florence does, I think, demonstrate the legal feasibility of this exercise. The Commission will express its opinion on this study on 5 July, and adopt a communication on the reform of the Treaties. Personally, I think more time will definitely be needed than is available before the Nice deadline to deal with this issue seriously and in depth. But as you yourself have said, Madam President, we must at least make a start on it, at the latest in Nice. We think it will be useful to start discussing it now and finding a method of making progress in that direction. The European Council could express an opinion on undertaking this exercise immediately after Nice, possibly linking it to another difficult issue we still think ought to be dealt with in Nice, though we are not sure that it will be: incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaties.
Mr Napolitano mentioned the report on governance announced by President Prodi. That is a second point. Before the end of this month, the Commission will specify the issues it wishes to look at with a view to improving the way decentralisation of responsibility within the Union is organised, strengthening coherence between its policies and achieving greater and fairer citizen participation. To be frank it is too early to tell you about the precise contents of this white paper, but quite clearly its drafting, between now and summer 2001, will take account of all proposals and views about the long term aims of European construction and their implications for organising European policy.
As I speak to you today, I am also hoping this white paper on governance will contribute to the exercise I was talking about a few minutes ago: a reform of the Treaties, that simplifies and clarifies them, producing in, I hope, the not too distant future a text or basic treaty that is easy to read, incorporating rights, values, institutions, the principles of our common policies, and finally clarifying the powers and objectives of the Union.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights Mr Gama mentioned is a political challenge for all of us. The Commission hopes the work of the convention drafting this Charter will be completed before the end of the year. Your representatives, to whom I pay tribute, and my colleague, Antonio Vitorino, attach great importance to it. The Charter should create added value, without affecting the
in the Treaty, by codifying in a single text all the fundamental rights upheld by the Union and adding the fundamental economic and social rights which form a part of that
plus some new limited rights.
Of course, the precise form and status of the Charter, and the relationship between the new text and the rights guaranteed by Member States and the Council of Europe, will continue to be discussed and I cannot anticipate the conclusions, at least, not before the Biarritz Summit. The convention chairman, Mr Herzog, will take stock of the convention’s work at the Feira European Council and we hope the debate that follows can provide fresh impetus to this crucial process for the Union.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk about the Commission’s second great priority: the development of foreign policy and a genuine European security and defence policy. The political dimension of the European Union is also involved. First I want to talk about the enlargement. As the Council President mentioned, following Helsinki, negotiations are now in progress with all the candidate countries. During the Portuguese Presidency the negotiations with the Luxembourg Group entered their final chapters. In Feira, the European Council will be noting the progress achieved as set out in a Presidency report, and encouraging all the candidates to pursue their efforts to prepare themselves for accession with determination. We too have to prepare, by reforming the institutions, and there is a long way to go."@en1
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