Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-17-Speech-3-035"
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"en.20010117.1.3-035"2
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".
Mr President, I would firstly like to thank all the Members who have spoken, since the way they have spoken and their frankness clearly demonstrate that we all share the same wish for clarification on this situation. The chief concern we all must have is undoubtedly for the people who are currently ill and those who may become ill and suffer in the future. I therefore once again promise to provide all the information I can. What you cannot ask me to do is to provide information when I am unable to do so or when I have no information.
This is an issue which by its very nature lies within the remit of national governments and we are necessarily therefore dependent on the information provided by the individual governments. As I said in my opening speech, I am in contact with the governments and organisations working on this issue and once again I can assure you that the Council and I personally will make available all the information we have with the maximum of transparency. It would be rather difficult to provide you with information we do not have.
Secondly, I would like to say that, as some of you have pointed out, we must keep all the variables open in the scientific analyses. We must not focus on certain parameters and forget others which may have effects which are equally damaging to health. I am therefore delighted to have heard both the Commission and some of the Members who have spoken express a willingness to analyse all the aspects which may have an environmental impact. I can tell you that I, too, am a scientist, a physicist, by training. I am not going to regale you with all I learnt at the time, even if I could remember much of it, but I do think it important for us to adopt a rational attitude to this problem and to wait to collate all the available information before assessing the full implications. Right now, nobody should have any doubt but that all the countries and all the international organisations are doing their utmost to find a solution to this problem, bringing together the most relevant information as quickly as possible.
A great many things have been said, all very interesting. I have taken note of everything, but I do not want to go through each point individually since not many actual questions have been asked. I would, however, like to respond to some of the statements that have been made in order to prevent any misunderstandings. Let me, in all frankness and affection, confirm that I received the letter from the representatives of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and – as they themselves know, because I spoke to them – I conveyed the message and made the letter available to the Heads of Government and Ministers of the Union. The letter was answered verbally and not in writing, but you are aware that the decision which the governments took was to continue along the route they had already undertaken in May, which was the time I actually received the letter. So, please do not think that no one paid any attention to the letter I received. The message was taken into consideration, but the governments still decided upon a course other than that proposed in the letter. Letters from any of the members of political groups in this Parliament are always taken into consideration, and I would like you to be assured of that.
I have two observations which are almost personal observations. Firstly, I make a very clear distinction between ends and means. I would not like to be accused of confusing the ends with the means. I am perfectly capable of distinguishing between ends and means and I know very well that ends are the important thing and that achieving the ends depends very much on the means employed. Different means, and our assessment of them, change over time. There are occasions when the information available suggests that particular means may be useful or may have ceased to be useful, and in considering these cases we have to take account of the information available at the precise time when decisions are taken. I would therefore like to make it clear that that I am not confusing ends with means. I have never done so and I would hope never to do so.
I would like to say something to those who accuse me of having asked this Parliament for its complicity. In no way am I asking Parliament for its complicity, not now, not ever. You represent the will of the people of the European Union and you are responsible for your own actions. What I have, and what I believe I must share with you, are the moments when we have agreed years or months ago. That does not mean I am using Parliament or making it complicit. If I say it once or if I say it a thousand times, I fully accept my responsibilities, I always have and I always will, that is my intention, without the need to make anybody complicit. What I need to do is to ask you to accept your own responsibility. I am accepting mine and you must accept yours. And we cannot deny that the resolutions adopted by this Parliament gave me food for thought. Your resolutions were important to me when I chaired the Council of Ministers of the European Union and also to the Heads of State and Government of the European Union. That is not making anybody complicit. That is sharing responsibility like the responsible Europeans all of us are here. We must be able to share and to accept our collective responsibility.
I have nothing else to say. I would like to thank you and also to inform you that I shall be coming back here on 31 January for a debate on the Middle East, but I shall remain at your disposal during the plenary session to continue discussing this very important issue since it is one in which we have a lot at stake, namely our credibility and also our ability to continue to make progress in the area of European Union crisis management. In this respect, ladies and gentlemen, please be assured that you can count on me, at least on my good will. That you can count on my knowledge is not so certain."@en1
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