Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-27-Speech-3-019"
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"en.20020227.4.3-019"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure today to inform you about three important matters dealt with by the Commission. I need to be clear but also go into some detail in this speech, and so I apologise if it gets a little boring!
My second subject for today is the analysis of the Commission's human and financial resources. Our Annual Policy Strategy does not simply identify the key political priorities; it also seeks to ensure that the Commission has sufficient resources for its tasks. This is the commitment I gave at the start of my term of office, and it is now becoming reality as we achieve coherence between policy decisions, planned activities and resources. This Commission has never undertaken to do anything without having the necessary resources and will never do so. We must therefore ensure – and this is the plan we are working on – that optimum use is made of human resources. We have made every endeavour to improve the situation, through productivity gains, negative priorities – identifying tasks to be abandoned, that is – and internal redeployment. At this point, however, we cannot prepare properly for enlargement without more staff. There is absolutely no doubt about that if you consider, for example, that the number of languages used – in Parliament too, of course, and in all the work of the different institutions – will almost double.
As you know, the Commission must also be ready to ensure application of the Community acquis right from day one of accession. This means we have to complete all aspects of enlargement preparations by the end of 2003. To this end, precisely with a view to preparing gradually for enlargement, after rigorous analysis, the Commission has requested 500 non-permanent staff in its Annual Policy Strategy for 2003. We all know that the current ceiling for administrative expenditure does not allow sufficient resources to cover preparations for enlargement. The Commission therefore considers it essential to use the flexibility instrument it has proposed. This request for 500 non-permanent staff in 2003 forms part of a global package of staffing needs to cope with enlargement, and it is derived from a detailed analysis of all the activities the Commission will have to perform in future. The complete results of this analysis will appear in the preliminary draft budget for 2003 and will be presented for debate in this House.
Our other two priorities – security and an inclusive economy – give the Commission additional responsibilities too. However, in order not to have to ask for yet more staff we have decided to approve new initiatives only if they can be carried out by redeploying our existing staff and/or by phasing out some of our existing activities. This shows how seriously and responsibly the Commission is committed to its priorities and also to budgetary discipline. Apart from anything else, the Commissioner for the Budget is here and she is watching to make sure that I respect this undertaking.
With regard to financial resources, the Commission and the Budgetary Authority must urgently find a more structural solution to the permanent overstretching of external relations Heading 4. No action can be totally efficient under the current constraints: in other words, we are wasting resources.
Last year's international developments, and especially the events of 11 September and the ensuing war in Afghanistan, showed once again that the Union needs specific mechanisms for making the extra funds it needs for crisis intervention swiftly available. This is of the utmost importance if we are genuinely to strengthen the European Union’s voice in the world. The breakdown in Heading 4 that the Commission proposes therefore accommodates crucial political priorities such as Afghanistan, the Euro-Mediterranean Bank and the Global Health Fund, without jeopardising our other fields of external action. I would therefore urge this House and the Council to address the issue of resources as soon as possible, for the actions I have mentioned cannot be put off.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, focusing on the Commission's political priorities for 2003 must not make us forget that we are on the threshold of a genuinely historic event that will shape the future of Europe. Indeed, tomorrow, in this building, the Convention mandated to put forward proposals for the Europe of the twenty-first century and to prepare a first draft of Europe's future Constitution will meet for the very first time.
Under the present Treaties, the European Commission has the role of initiating legislation and safeguarding the general interests of the Community. Naturally, therefore, the Commission wishes to deliver a strong political message on the Convention's significance and on its objectives. Let me start by reminding you that the Convention is the result of the joint efforts of the European Parliament and the Commission, and we must be proud of this joint achievement, for not everybody supported the idea of a Convention some months or even weeks ago.
The Commission is therefore very pleased to see a constitutional debate on the future of Europe getting under way, especially as most of the Convention’s members will be elected representatives of the people, not just representatives of national governments.
I am pleased to see that the appointed representatives are of a very high calibre. No one can attempt to direct the Convention or to dictate the way it should work or the conditions it should respect. The Convention is composed of the highest calibre people who will manage their work themselves, independently. I believe that not only will it work freely and produce excellent results but that afterwards, ultimately, the governments will not be able to ignore its outcome when they set about reforming the Treaties. The governments are still sovereign, of course, but the work of this Convention will have a huge impact on the future of Europe.
I will deal first with the Commission's political priorities for 2003, then with the Commission's human and financial resources and, lastly, with the Convention which is going to start work tomorrow. First, then, the Commission's political priorities for 2003, which will be one of the most important stages in the organisation of our political life. This year, for the first time, the three main institutions will conduct an in-depth dialogue on the political priorities and the legislative working programme for the coming year. We shall do so on the basis of the new understanding presented at the Conference of Presidents on 31 January.
Of course, as we know, the Convention is open to ideas coming from civil society. Thus, no one will be able to claim that the new Treaty is the result of negotiations between Brussels bureaucrats and diplomats from which ordinary citizens have been excluded. We must not forget that the desire for a Convention was conceived the morning after the night of the Nice Council. It was conceived when we realised that we could not go on like that. It was not the result of a coincidence, it was generated by the realisation that a method had failed.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Commission intends to play an active role in the Convention's work via the two designated Commissioners and my own direct, personal undertaking. We are aware of what is at stake and we can see that European integration is the only new development, the only proper institutional change being attempted in the world. It is the only practical attempt at democratic globalisation amongst the seas of words.
However, we must also, through this Convention, propose a common plan for European society with which our citizens can identify, and we must therefore decide immediately, at the start of the Convention’s work, what we want to do together and in what kind of society we want to live in the coming years. It is this choice of society in Europe that will determine the means we use to achieve it and the powers and responsibilities the future European Union should have, not the other way round! Therefore, we must first decide what we want to do together and then adapt the institutional structure to suit our objectives. We believe that the Community method is still a suitable instrument, the instrument that has distinguished and characterised Europe’s greatness thus far. However, we cannot take the conservative line of simply defending it to the hilt: we shall be proposing innovative ways of adapting it to the needs of tomorrow's Europe.
I am confident that this House will support the Commission as we strive to find solutions that will ensure that the European Union’s decision-making process is both efficient and democratic.
For next year, we have identified three priorities: enlargement, stability and security and a sustainable and inclusive economy. Fully successful enlargement has been a top priority for this Commission since the beginning of its mandate, and enlargement will therefore remain a key priority throughout the second part of my term of office. In this context, 2003 will be a very important year, in which we must all be ready to assume our full responsibilities towards the new Member States. We must be ready to welcome into the Commission our colleagues from the new Member States and to face new challenges. Let me remind you that if we complete the enlargement negotiations in 2002, then 2003 must be the pivotal year when we prepare ourselves to make sure that enlargement goes ahead smoothly on 1 January 2004.
During 2003, therefore, the Commission intends to do several things. Firstly, we must help the future Member States prepare to fully assume all the responsibilities arising from accession. Secondly, we must make sure the Commission fulfils all its obligations from the very first day of accession. Thirdly, we must rethink Community policies. This will be the most significant enlargement in the entire history of European integration, and it is essential that we reflect on what common policies the enlarged Union will need.
However, if enlargement is to be a total success, we must also give a high profile to the other two priorities I mentioned just now. Indeed, the three subjects we are talking about today are closely linked. First and foremost, stability and security. Within the Union, our main objective is to step up progress towards a European area of justice, security and freedom. Therefore, the fight against crime in all its forms – including terrorism, or rather, starting with terrorism – is and will remain at the top of our agenda. I also believe that there needs to be particular focus on all the complex effects of immigration.
Outside the Union, another of our priorities is to spread stability and security throughout our continent and to the regions bordering on the enlarged Union. To achieve this, we need to strengthen our partnerships with neighbouring countries. The reinvigoration of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership must do more than seek to establish a market place: it must create a genuine community of good neighbours. To this end, we shall pursue our strategy of strengthening the Barcelona process. In particular, on the economic front, we shall seek to develop joint projects and initiatives together with the countries on the Mediterranean's southern shore through a new financial institution based on the EIB's operation – notably, this morning, we approved the idea that it should be an institution in which the EIB holds the majority share – on the basis of the guidelines the Commission has, indeed, adopted.
Furthermore, we shall spare no efforts in seeking to help resolve the conflict in the Middle East, where the most recent developments have, at last, generated a glimmer of hope after months of tragedy. We shall also move forward with the association and stabilisation process in the Balkans and, in the wider world, we shall continue to support the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Our third priority for 2003 is a sustainable, inclusive economy. I believe it will not be long before the economy recovers, but a lot depends on how resolutely the EU implements the Lisbon Strategy. Indeed, the external dimension of this strategy is particularly important as it can help us direct the path of globalisation and ensure that its benefits are shared as widely as possible.
To achieve this, we shall be fighting on several fronts. Firstly, the negotiations begun at Doha will be entering a crucial phase, not this year but in 2003. Then we must ensure that the Kyoto commitments are implemented. Finally, we must improve the global partnership between north and south, practically affirming Europe's solidarity with Africa. Proper discussions will be opened on these issues at Monterrey in a few weeks’ time. The situation is certainly not the most encouraging, there is certainly no cause for optimism in our – at last serious – commitment to the Developing World, but the Commission undertakes to work in this sphere."@en1
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