Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-011"
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ‘I am delighted to see that the Commission has taken concrete steps to include European citizens in a debate that is going to determine the long-term future of the Union.’ This is the beginning of the first contribution on the website on the future of Europe from Russell Pickard of the UK. He hopes that as many citizens as possible will express their opinion on fundamental issues such as ‘What kind of Europe do we – Europe’s citizens – want?’
Then it is, of course, also important to return to the question of form, the best way in which we can reform the Union’s institutions and way of working. Let me first say that the community method, which has played such an important role in European cooperation, must naturally retain a strong position in the future too, even if, in some areas, we supplement it with the new open coordination method. A strong Europe requires strong institutions. I noticed this myself when I was environment minister and worked closely with both the Commission and Parliament.
Let me also say that from the Swedish point of view we have an open attitude to the question of the form continued preparations will take. I can see both advantages and disadvantages in the ‘convention method’ which several players have suggested as an important or possible model for debate.
Madam President, we are at the start of an incredibly exciting process. The future of Europe is now being discussed throughout the Union, from Termonfeckin in Ireland today, to the Canary Islands in Spain next week, the following week in Kiruna in the far north of Sweden and the following day in Sparta in Greece.
Next week, as the first in a line of measures, this Parliament will organise a meeting with participants from the parliaments in the Member States and the candidate countries. I look forward to being involved in the debate next week.
Later this year, the Commission will make an important contribution through its White Paper on European Governance. I myself will also take up this discussion in the Council (General Affairs) and with the candidate countries in conjunction with the unofficial meeting of foreign ministers in Nyköping. Sweden will also initiate a conference on the external role of the EU this autumn.
Every country will naturally conduct a national debate in the light of its own traditions and conditions. We ourselves are responsible for ensuring that there is a broad debate which also involves the national parliaments and addresses the issues and organisations which are relevant in our respective countries.
What I have talked about so far naturally only concerns the very first initiatives. The process will continue and the participants will inspire each other. The Swedish and the Belgian Presidencies, Parliament and the Commission will share the main responsibility for this first phase, which demands close and trusting cooperation. The internal debate within Parliament will be particularly interesting to follow. The preliminary signals we have received are exciting and I look forward to the resolution from this house which is planned in May.
A report on issues concerning the future will be submitted to the meeting of the European Council in Gothenburg in June. The European Council will then adopt a view on the continued process at the meeting in Laeken/Brussels in December.
Madam President, what kind of Europe do we, the citizens of Europe, want? The question has been asked – let the debate commence! Robert Schuman once said that Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements. It is important to remember this even today.
Let the debate begin. Let us start from all those who have participated in the debate from the days of Schuman onwards and let us include all the young people who are talking to us today through the schools of Europe or participating in the debate on the website. I now look forward to hearing the visions of the Members of Parliament on the future of Europe.
‘If we want things to change, let us ‘be’ the change’, writes Vincente Garcia-Delgado Segués from Spain. ‘Now every European citizen can say exactly what he or she wants – whether negative or positive – and the responsible leaders in the EU can listen to the citizens and take into account their wishes and hopes’, writes Ann Catherine Talbro from Denmark. Kurt Linderoos from Finland proposes that all EU citizens contact an additional fourteen people, one from every other Member State, to discuss the future of the EU.
Last week, Parliament’s Vice President David Martin, the Prime Ministers of Sweden and Belgium and President Prodi launched the debate on the future of Europe. You, Madam President, the two Prime Ministers and the President of the Commission made a joint statement and the website, which was initiated jointly by Parliament, the Council and the Commission, was opened.
With last week’s launch and today’s debate we are leaving “the follow-up to Nice” behind us and instead entering into the debate on the future of Europe. According to the Nice Declaration, this broad debate on the future of Europe must be followed by a new Intergovernmental Conference in 2004. This year, the Swedish and the Belgian Presidencies will work with Parliament and the Commission to encourage wide-ranging discussions with all parties concerned: representatives of national parliaments and of public opinion, schools and universities and representatives of civil society. We will place great emphasis on what the various political groups in Europe, inside and outside this House, have to say.
We must naturally include young people in this debate – it is their future in Europe we are discussing – as well as the candidate countries, as they too will be involved in building the Europe of the future. The entire process must take place with the greatest possible openness. Our goal is to bring the Union and its institutions closer to its citizens.
According to the decision made in Nice the process will address issues including restricting the competencies of the EU and the Member States so as to reflect the principle of subsidiarity, the future status of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, simplification of the treaties without changing their content and the role of national parliaments in the structure of Europe.
When we initiated the debate last week at one of the European Schools in Brussels it was clear that the interests of citizens extend far beyond the examples of institutional issues given in Nice. I believe that it is correct and important for us to be able to conduct a broader debate on the future of Europe. If we are to begin this discussion at the right end, we should, just like the school pupils in Brussels and the contributions on the website, ask the fundamental questions of what tasks we want the Union to take on and what role we want the Union to play in Europe and globally.
We have to be able to show our citizens that the EU is a strong force on the important issues: dealing with globalisation, human rights and democracy, a common asylum and immigration policy, employment and growth throughout Europe, combating crime, the environment, sustainable development and food safety.
It is important that we begin this debate with the factual issues, which our citizens can identify with. In this work I really look forward to the contribution of Parliament as it is you Members who have direct contact with your voters around Europe. This house has so often spearheaded important European debates on openness, the environment, expansion, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, to name but a few examples. It is now time to move from discussing form to also discussing facts and substance."@en1
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