Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-24-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20011024.1.3-015"2
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".
Madam President, Mr President of the Commission, honourable Members of the European Parliament, true to tradition, I have come here today, a few days after the meeting of the European Council in Ghent, to report on the discussions we held there. And rest assured: I shall be brief and to the point.
This European Council in Ghent was, in fact, already the second meeting under Belgian Presidency, and was, like the previous meeting on 21 September in Brussels, overshadowed by the effects of the attacks in New York and Washington. That was, of course, to be expected.
The events of 11 September will be etched on our minds forever, and the international community and the international alliance have meanwhile taken concrete action against terrorism. Originally, as you know, the Ghent Summit was conceived as an informal platform for exchanging ideas about the Union’s enlargement and particularly the Laeken Declaration, which is to structure and launch the debate on the future of Europe later on in the year. In addition, it was our initial intention to carry out a final assessment of the introduction of the euro.
Indeed, in my opinion, it was up to the Council, as a kind of benign father figure, to carry out a final check to ensure that all preparations were in place for a successful introduction of the European single currency. However, as is often the case – that is, in any case, what I have gleaned from people who have far more experience as Presidents of the Council – the news has somewhat played havoc with that agenda, and with good reason, in my view.
The events of 11 September are of unprecedented and immense significance, and I think that as the days go by, it is becoming increasingly clear that the world after 11 September will never be the same. A new, global order is upon us. It is a new, multipolar world within which the European Union will need to play a more prominent role. Yesterday, I was able to give my initial views on this in Poland to mark the start of the academic year of the Europe College. However, to have major views on something is, of course, one thing, yet to involve the Union in this crisis as a united front, is quite another. A month ago, on 21 September exactly, we managed to persuade the Union to adopt one clear, unambiguous and common position. At the same time, we rubberstamped a far-reaching and detailed action plan against terrorism. From the Council’s final declaration last Friday in Ghent, it appears that we have managed to sustain this unanimous approach fully. Three elements are essential in this unanimous approach and I should like to outline them briefly. The military action which started on 7 October receives our unqualified support. The action is justified by resolution 1368 of the UN Security Council and we attach the greatest importance to protecting the life of civilians in the process. After the conflict, we also want a normal government to be established in Afghanistan, a stable government, a representative government that respects human rights. A government of this kind will be able to count on extensive European aid for the reconstruction of that country.
Meanwhile, we, along with the Union, will – more than ever before – commit to granting humanitarian aid to the many millions of Afghan refugees. Our commitment in this respect is to ensure that no country in the region becomes the victim of this conflict as a result of the influx of displaced. In fact, the presidency received from the Council the mandate to visit that region to obtain political support for the replacement of the Taliban regime.
The prompt and comprehensive implementation of the action plan against terrorism is the second element that I wish to underline briefly. With regard to the creation of a European arrest warrant, I believe it is safe to say that we have reached a break-through. The abolition of dual criminality was now accepted by everyone in the Council, not only for terrorist acts, but also for other serious crimes. As far as the list of terrorist organisations is concerned, it was decided that that should be completed and laid down by the end of the year. In addition, we discussed the proposals submitted by our American partners in the Council, and it was agreed in the Council to reinforce our action plan, if necessary.
At the end, the Commission and the Council were also commissioned to draw up a programme of cooperation among the Member States to fight terrorism involving biological and chemical weapons. In that programme, a European coordinator for civilian protection will be appointed, among other things.
Thirdly, the Union has a more active role to play in the prevention of, and fight against, hotbeds and conflicts. Mr Javier Solana, Mr Louis Michel, myself and the Commission, of course, will try to crank up a new dialogue in the countries of the Middle East or at least try to create the conditions for resuming the peace process. In this connection, the Council sent a clear message on Friday that it takes at least two States for peace to be possible. Moreover, we, along with the Council, have once again warned against the risk of the Islamic world embracing terrorism. We should instead intensify the dialogue between Europe and the Arab and Islamic world. Allow me to say, Madam President, that last Friday’s clear-cut decisions immediately put the ‘incident’ surrounding the preliminary meeting of the French President, the British Prime Minister and the German Chancellor into perspective. The impression of a triumvirate in the making, one which would probably not have been around if the meeting had taken place elsewhere or at a different time – was reduced to its true proportions after the three people involved assured me that the consultation was one about purely technical-military matters. I have accepted that explanation, partly to prevent this issue from dominating the European Council in Ghent, and I have repeated in the Council that it is the fifteen Member States who establish the positions jointly in the European Union."@en1
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