Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-24-Speech-2-016"
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"en.20001024.2.2-016"2
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"Whether the Community system is preserved or weakened will depend on the scope of qualified majority voting and thus of codecision being extended to cover real issues. That is my first point. The preservation or strengthening of the Community model will be assessed on the basis of whether we have been able to resist the temptation felt by some to call into question the exclusivity of the Commission’s powers to initiate legislation. I am referring here to Article 250, for which some would like to introduce qualified majority voting. The preservation and consolidation of the Community system will be assessed on the basis of whether the Commission has been reserved a fitting role in closer cooperation, and not only as concerns the first pillar. The consolidation of the Community system will be assessed on the basis of whether the role of agencies has been allowed to develop to the detriment of the regulatory authority that belongs to the Commission. That, ladies and gentlemen, from my viewpoint as someone who, let me repeat in all modesty, is one of the humble workmen in these discussions, is what I say and think is the way to gauge whether or not genuine reform has been achieved in Nice.
The President-in-Office of the Council mentioned about the Middle East. I will not dwell on this issue except to remind you that the European Council adopted a declaration that exerted pressure on both sides in the conflict to actually meet at Sharm-el-Sheikh. This meeting did indeed take place. We are aware of what was achieved there and we too feel that it was important that Javier Solana, the European Union’s High Representative, should play an active part in these talks.
I would like to conclude by mentioning two issues that are of concern to this House and which have spurred the Commission to take action – crude oil and maritime safety. These issues were also dealt with at Biarritz. The Heads of State and Government welcomed the proposal from the Commission, presented by Loyola de Palacio, for a global strategy on oil reserves and oil prices. The President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, took the opportunity to emphasise, above and beyond the content of this Communication, the vital importance of Russia to this debate, and suggested that we discuss this issue thoroughly at the forthcoming summit meeting between the European Union and Russia in Paris on 30 October.
Lastly, on the subject of maritime safety and the lessons to be learned from the Erika disaster, a few months ago the European Council ratified the guidelines we had proposed, and which were presented to you, on Community strategy in the field of maritime safety. As you know, these centre around three basic objectives: stepping up inspections of ships in port, stringent monitoring of classification societies and implementing a timetable throughout the Union for replacing single-hulled oil tankers. The French Presidency is determined to carry through the necessary reforms in this field before the year is out and, on the basis of the proposals from the Commission, to inject fresh impetus into this area at the Nice European Council.
I would like to follow what the Minister has said by quickly touching on some of the points that I have just mentioned. Qualified majority voting: I would stress that the issue is not really about how many fields could be changed from unanimity to qualified majority voting. The real issue is the status of these fields, and the great merit of the Biarritz Summit will have been that of defining the most problematic areas and encouraging us, or authorising us, to find technical solutions for taxation issues, or in any case for the small section of taxation policy, or of social protection, which relates directly to the internal market. There is a need to reassure those who are worried that under no circumstances will the sovereignty of the Member States in taxation matters be challenged, and to also tell those who have worries that the idea is not to merge social protection systems, especially from the bottom up, but simply to see to it that the common market and the single market run smoothly within an enlarged Europe.
Trade policy, asylum and immigration, cohesion policy, environmental policy: in each of these fields several approaches to solutions have been sounded out and, as early as yesterday morning, the group of representatives was back at work. Following on from what Mr Moscovici has said, I would like to state that the Commission is no mere bystander in this work. It is playing its part and is ready and willing, alongside the Presidency, to seek out the fairest solutions. Ladies and gentlemen, we must quite simply see to it that from now on we keep alive the spirit and climate of Biarritz as regards these qualified majority voting issues. Naturally, as regards all these areas, where the transition to qualified majority voting is involved, I would like to reiterate our intention to extend codecision where legislative matters are concerned.
As Mr Moscovici has said, genuine progress has also been made concerning closer cooperation. It is interesting to note that many delegations feel that we have to turn this progress on closer cooperation to good account, and this is along the lines of what I was saying earlier, in order to strengthen the role of the Community institutions – the role of the Commission, but also that of Parliament. I feel that the fundamental demands made by Parliament and the Commission will be met or honoured, and that on this point we will manage to secure the abolition of recourse to the European Council, which is to say the right of veto, along with a lowering of the quorum to one third, or eight, of the Member States in Community matters. It was made eminently clear at Biarritz that closer cooperation would constitute an additional force for integration and not an instrument of exclusion.
I also feel that an agreement could be reached on another theme, on Article 7, taking as a basis or as pointers the proposals that the Commission itself made to provide for vigorous Community dialogue on legal matters, and Community and political control of crises situations in which we might find ourselves due to the stance that one government or another adopts with regard to our common values.
Mr Moscovici has spoken of the Charter. In drafting this instrument, work of high quality has been carried out in an original and intelligent manner. I feel that it will go on to be proclaimed at Nice, and this already marks a great step forward. We cannot stop there and at Nice we will need to envisage ways of addressing the place that this Charter is to have within the Treaties. Let us not wait until after Nice to consider the post-Nice scenario regarding a number of issues of a constitutional nature: that of the role of the Charter, and thus of the formal consolidation of citizens’ rights, that of the simplification of the Treaties, on which we have worked with the Institute of Florence, that of the clarification or focussing of competences, so that we can finally say who is doing what within the European Union, what the Union is or is not doing, or what it should stop doing. These are issues that we do not have time to deal with thoroughly prior to Nice, but they must be raised and would perhaps merit in-depth attention after Nice.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are still a great many thorny issues in these complex negotiations which can only be resolved by universal agreement. I would like to confirm that the Biarritz spirit or the Biarritz climate would seem to me to have been primarily one of determination. We are still some way off an agreement, but I would like, as regards the determined support the Commission offers you, to give a clear reminder, if there could be any doubts, concerns or questions surrounding this, that the Commission will strive to the very last minute – you can count on me – to set itself very ambitious targets for the Treaty of Nice in these negotiations, so that we will not simply be concluding the negotiations at Nice, but first and foremost ensuring their success.
Madam President, I will quickly mention some other issues, if I may, to confirm or expand upon what the Presidency has said.
First, Serbia. Everyone here has been deeply moved and heartened by the move to democracy in Serbia – firstly by the will of the people of Serbia and by the election of President Kostunica as President of the Yugoslav Federation. This is what has caused the European Union to radically alter its policy in respect of Serbia. I must say that President Kostunica’s visit to Biarritz was an important and moving event which marked the return of Serbia to the European fold. In more practical terms, we announced that emergency aid totalling EUR 200 million had been allocated to Serbia, and the Commission is soon to present a package of emergency measures that will cater for the country’s priority needs as winter approaches. Besides the emergency aid, there can be no doubt that Serbia will also need, as Mr Moscovici has indicated, more comprehensive support, which will be implemented in association with the World Bank and the EIB among others. The key thing, here as elsewhere, I feel, is to consolidate democracy."@en1
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