Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-24-Speech-3-170"
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"en.20011024.8.3-170"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to begin by congratulating Mr Brok on his excellent rapport, in which he not only asks pertinent questions, but also, and from the outset, provides some valuable answers. Incidentally, the report is most timely, because, with regard to all issues concerning foreign policy as a whole, in other words, the Union’s policy towards the rest of the world, security policy in all its aspects and defence policy, the European Parliament is clearly in a state of change. I was present in this House for the discussion of the Treaty of Amsterdam, when we stated our disappointment at the little progress made on common security and defence policy. Looking at the point we have reached today, we see that we have come a long way and especially that we have progressed very quickly. The events of recent months and weeks have shown, whatever may have been said about them this morning, that the European Union is becoming, and is being perceived to be, an increasingly important player on the world stage. This gives us both greater visibility and, of course, imposes greater responsibilities on us. I am sure I am not the only person here to have been confronted over the last few weeks with the question: ‘but where are the European Union’s troops?’ asked by people who have completely forgotten that we are not involved and are far from being involved. This means quite simply that we are increasingly perceived to be a player on the global stage and that we must have all the institutional, financial and other means available if we are to successfully achieve all of these responsibilities. This result could clearly only have been achieved as a result of the energy and dynamism both of the High Representative for Security and Cooperation and of Commissioner Patten, who, in a spirit of perfect cooperation, both manage to represent us superbly on all world stages, in all crisis hot-spots on our own continent and in much more far-flung parts of the world.
We, the Member States of the European Union, are also increasingly managing – and the Belgian presidency has played a part in this – to speak with one voice in international bodies and I am thinking in particular of the United Nations, which currently play an extremely important role. We therefore wish to see ourselves become a major political player on the international stage. This will enable us to better shoulder our responsibilities so that we can contribute to peace and stability across the world. This policy is progressing at the pace we had envisaged. I am sure you know that this is an open process, in which the Fifteen want to involve the candidate countries and the allied non-Member States of the European Union. Negotiations currently taking place with NATO are due to establish the methods of cooperation between ourselves and the Alliance, in order to ensure access to NATO’s resources and capacities and in order to avoid efforts being pointlessly duplicated. As you know, these negotiations are not straightforward and you also know why they are so complex. Ultimately, however, you also know – and I repeat what the presidency has already stated on previous occasions – that we have no intention of allowing this process of establishing the means to guarantee our being operational becoming hostage to events within NATO. We shall lead the way and we shall continue to work to achieve the objectives I have mentioned. I fully agree that conflict prevention and crisis management are amongst the foremost priorities of our action, and, as Mr Brok has said, these priorities must lead us to be committed at every stage. We shall maintain this commitment on a long-term basis in various crisis situations, whether it be in the Balkans, the Middle East or in Africa."@en1
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