Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-05-Speech-3-224"
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"en.20010905.6.3-224"2
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". – Madam President and honourable Members, I am glad to present on behalf of the President of the Commission a report on the G7/G8 summit in Genoa.
This is the challenge not only for the G8 but also for our Europe in the years and decades ahead. The Union has to support those political leaders, especially in Africa, who are on the side of democracy. It has to prevent illegal trafficking in arms between the North and the South. And it has to implement policies that strengthen the economies of the poorest nations. Policies such as the “Everything but Arms” initiative that has opened up our markets to products from the least-developed countries are a good example of this approach.
Fortunately, public opinion today is increasingly concerned about where the world is going and people recognise that this North-South inequality cannot be tolerated. The Commission is well aware of the growing importance of civil society and is eager to involve citizens’ associations and NGOs in shaping and implementing EU policies.
As the Commission President said yesterday, when discussing governance in this plenary, “the Union is still the only concrete, practical and democratic response to globalisation”. It is therefore essential that the European institutions operate on the basis of five fundamental principles: openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence. We need to engage in an open and systematic dialogue with civil society and to involve all stakeholders in designing the Union’s policies.
It is also essential to strengthen the Union’s voice and influence in the world so that Europe can make a greater contribution to international prosperity and stability. Multilateral institutions are the key to harnessing globalisation, but of course we underline that we want to help reform the multilateral organisations, making them more open, more accountable and more democratic.
In this connection, a particularly important event took place in Genoa – the “outreach” meeting with leaders of several non-member countries. This was a very useful meeting, enabling important representatives of southern countries to express their views directly and frankly and to discuss matters openly with the G8 Heads of State and Government. As a result, the G8 decided to make Africa one of the main topics of next year’s summit in Canada.
The Commission for its part can be satisfied with several of the decisions taken at Genoa. The documents on trade, food safety, climate change and communicable diseases, as well as the emphasis on Africa, by and large reflect the Commission’s preparatory contributions to the summit.
On trade, there was complete agreement on the need to launch a new round of talks at the ministerial conference in Doha in November. This view was, by the way, reiterated last week in Mexico City.
During the discussion on trade, President Putin stated that Russia was ready to follow the example set by the European Union in its “Everything But Arms” initiative.
On food safety, the European side successfully insisted that the final Communication include a reference to the precautionary principle.
The G8 had a very long discussion on climate change, opening the way for the conclusions reached at Bonn a few days later and I believe you have discussed these conclusions at this part session.
From 20 to 22 July this year, the Commission President took part in the G7/G8 summit, together with the current President of the European Council, Guy Verhofstadt.
The summit also provided an opportunity to launch the global health fund. The purpose of this international fund, which will not be limited to the G8 countries, is to help reduce poverty by dealing with the problem of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The Community, for its part, is committed to providing EUR 120 million.
As on every occasion when the current presidency of the Union is held by a State that is not a member of the G8, the Union was represented at the summit by the Council President and by the President of the Commission. The tandem arrangement worked extremely well and I am pleased to be able to underline that here.
We are sensitive to the fact that several aspects of the G8 will have to be changed in the future and not just cosmetically. The Commission, for its part, will encourage a return to the original spirit of the G8 summits. Indeed a joint decision was taken in Genoa to reduce the size of delegations and the summit to be held in Canada next year will be much simpler and – we hope – more effective.
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The summit took a number of important decisions. However, most of the media attention was focused on events taking place outside the summit, on the city streets. These events confirmed that the G8 needs to engage in a genuine dialogue with civil society and with non-member countries.
Demonstrators must have the opportunity to express their opinions. This is an inalienable right not only guaranteed in law but also defended in practice. People are genuinely uneasy about various aspects of globalisation, and we must pay attention to their concerns.
However, violence disfigures any demonstration, even one held in an honourable cause. We cannot allow peaceful demonstrators expressing genuine fears and concerns to be tarred with the same brush as those who commit acts of violence.
To combat violence, whether at Gothenburg or Genoa, we need to improve European cooperation in the field of law and order. The Justice and Home Affairs Council discussed these issues in late July, and the events at Genoa show how urgent it now is to take action.
But I would like to remind all of you that according to Article 33 of the Treaty the primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order lies with the Member States. Member States recognise, however, that better cooperation is required between their law enforcement and judicial authorities in order to safeguard public order at European Council meetings and similar events. The decisions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council were built upon the existing structures and existing legal instruments, which means that there will be no specific institutions to deal with these issues. It goes without saying that the Commission has always stressed the need for all police and judicial actions to respect the civil and human rights of the citizens and the legislation providing for privacy protection and for the respect of civil liberties.
We have to reflect on a political response to the two hundred thousand demonstrators in Genoa. It is the profound belief of the Commission that the Union should promote an active dialogue with bona fide organisations which peacefully exercise their rights to freely express opinion and assemble. We believe that the European Parliament should play a major role in promoting this dialogue.
The demonstrators want us to tackle the widening gulf between the northern and southern hemispheres of our world, a gulf created by inequality, poverty, disease and war. In spite of our efforts and even some achievements over the past forty years, tragic disparities and social injustice remain and we have a long way to go in overcoming them."@en1
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