Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-17-Speech-1-038"
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"en.20011217.3.1-038"2
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"Madam President, we have all known for a long time that the Intergovernmental Conference on its own is no longer an effective instrument for bringing about a proper treaty amendment. It is encouraging to hear that a different working method has been opted for at the Laeken Summit. The Convention has been launched, and its agenda is far wider than the four points imposed at Nice. That is an achievement on the part of the Belgian Presidency, on which I would warmly congratulate it.
The quality of the triumvirate which will be heading the Convention and its praesidium is also promising. Nobody will reproach me for the fact that my trust in this leadership is mainly based on the presence in this trio of former Prime Minister and party colleague, Mr Dehaene.
The Laeken Declaration contains more than sixty non-rhetorical questions. Although everyone involved in Europe since Amsterdam, and Ioanina in fact, knows what the questions are, nobody had expected adequate and complete answers yet. However, many of us were looking forward to receiving some indicators, and I actually miss them a little in this Laeken Declaration. There has not been the slightest hint of reaching political agreement between Heads of State and Government about the direction which we need to take with Europe. In fact, wearing my Belgian hat, I could also say that Mr Verhofstadt asks the questions, and Mr Dehaene should make sure the answers are found.
I am left with three questions for the Council Presidency, to which I should like to receive answers.
First of all, do you believe, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, that you can deepen the European Union even further through this Declaration and with the Convention, to coincide at the latest with the imminent round of enlargement?
Secondly, do you expect that the national parliaments that have made their ratification of the deeply disappointing Nice Treaty dependent on the contents of the Laeken Declaration will now soon embark upon the ratification process for Nice?
Thirdly, I warmly welcome the idea of publishing the Laeken Declaration in dozens of European newspapers, but are you not concerned that people will also want the questions answered and will want to see concrete policy steps taken before they will well and truly feel at home in the ever-expanding Europe?
I should like to finish off by saying that, at the start of the Belgian Presidency, I had asked you to convene an NGO summit, preferably a few weeks before Laeken. I did not receive a response during that sitting, but you did organise the summit. This was therefore a matter of actions speaking louder than words. We had not been used to this for a while in Belgium, and it was a nice surprise when it did happen. Thank you for this."@en1
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