Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-17-Speech-1-058"
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"en.20011217.3.1-058"2
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"At the beginning of the debate – and I should like to thank various group leaders for their support and their words of praise for the Belgian Presidency – there were a few jokey comments to the effect that the Convention and its praesidium consist of nothing but Socialists and Christian Democrats, and that the only Liberal among them, namely Mr Giscard d'Estaing, has, in fact, transferred to the Christian-Democrats.
I, for my part, am quite happy for the Socialists and Christian Democrats to dominate the Convention. It may not be strictly my place to say this, but perhaps I am allowed this leeway at the end of the Presidency. Mr Poettering, there are currently two Liberals in the Council, as opposed to none before. Maybe, with your help, the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Commission will also be Liberals. So, in fact, we as Liberals are not too badly represented in the European institutions.
Some speakers have questioned the link between the Laeken Declaration and the Nice process. There should not be a common link. Nice is to be adopted; Nice is to be ratified. This is necessary to allow enlargement to work at a practical level as from 2004. It would be a big mistake if we did not do this and if Nice were to be once again mixed up with the Laeken Declaration and the future of Europe. We would then once again talk about the Nice leftovers instead of the future of Europe.
The great advantage of the Convention is that it breaks with traditional methods precisely at this moment. The old method entailed establishing, after each treaty amendment, that agreement had not been reached on two or three points, and these two or three points would then be transferred to the next Intergovernmental Conference, which would add a few fresh points and which would try to change the Treaty in the same way. If agreement was not reached at that stage, fresh leftovers would be created. The past decade of the European Union has been marked by a history of constantly moving from leftover to leftover, the swill becoming lighter and lighter each time, and the fundamental questions losing weight all the time. This mechanism is now being discontinued. This time round, fundamental questions will be put forward.
Mrs Thyssen has stated that these are merely questions that I am posing and for which Mr Dehaene will need to provide the answers. It is actually quite simple. Mr Dehaene has helped me draft the questions, and I will now return the favour and help him give the answers in the coming months. This is also what will actually happen. The Laeken group is a group of which Mr Dehaene and Mr Amato form a part. This group will always continue to work as a group of friends and, on that basis, a number of additional incentives can be given, involving Mr Delors, Mr Geremek, Mr Miliband and the other members."@en1
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