Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-19-Speech-3-068"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010919.6.3-068"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have listened carefully to the many speeches in this debate and believe that a number of very valid points have been made.
Needless to say, the events of last Tuesday were a kind of wake-up call for Europe. As many of you have already stated, it is true that we will need to take decisive action in future in order to remove the inconsistencies between the first, second and third pillars of integration, in other words the second and third pillars within the entire European construction. Some may appreciate in these circumstances that a plea for this does not point to an institutional compulsion, but rather to a concern for the effectiveness of the Union’s actions.
In this connection, I have taken a careful note of the invitation which your Member and my friend, Mr Jan-Kees Wiebenga, addressed to me. I would like to tell him to go ahead straight away with the good work by convincing his own political party and his own government to abolish any veto with regard to the Third Pillar. That would be a huge step in the right direction.
As far as our cooperation with the United States is concerned, I have, on behalf of the Council, said that this must be stepped up and will need to go beyond the usual forms of cooperation. Together with many of you, I hope that the American request for aid from Europe, as repeated by various Members here today, will remain just as clear in future and that provision will be made for a balanced cooperation, by means of which we, on an equal footing, inform, support and help each other as much as possible in all the actions which are necessary to combat international terrorism.
As some of you have already stated, I would, on behalf of the Council, like to underline that it would be a terrible mistake to view the events of the past week as a kind of conflict between two civilisations, or worse, a conflict between philosophical-religious world visions. Radicalism is nobody’s monopoly, unfortunately, and neither is fanaticism.
What happened last week is so horrific on account of its sheer scale and the large number of victims involved. Those images will be etched in our minds forever, but unfortunately, every day, we are once again faced with expressions of blind fanaticism, much closer to home, which cannot be ascribed – as happens – to certain world visions. I would like to warn against this most emphatically. We must not go in that direction and we must, on the contrary, ensure that all sources of conflict on our own continent, but also elsewhere, are brought within peace processes as soon as possible. Like many of you, I have the Middle East in mind but not only the Middle East. I am also thinking of the Balkans – yesterday, in Parliament, a conference was held on the Stability Pact relating to the Balkans – and Africa – I talked this afternoon abut the programme of our Presidency concerning Africa.
As I already stated in my first speech, the European Union is growing into a global power quicker than many had envisaged and slower than many would wish. That brings with it additional weighty responsibilities. I hope that in the next couple of weeks and months, we will prove worthy of those additional weighty responsibilities."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples