Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20020925.1.3-011"2
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"Mr President, I should like to thank the Danish Presidency and the Commission. I want to begin in a positive mood and say that I fully agree with the Commission and the Council that we should not be too critical and negative about the result of the Johannesburg Summit. It is not possible to measure the gain that nonetheless results when we see that more people have access to water, proper sanitation, food and an environment with fewer chemicals. I think that we should say that this really is a gain and that we should share the credit together, for, had it not been for the European Union, I think that we never would have got as far as we did in Johannesburg. This is also perhaps where part of Parliament’s frustration lies. Ever since the period before the Gothenburg Summit, we in Parliament have worked actively for sustainable development. Many have compared our wish list to some sort of Christmas tree with an overabundance of decorations. We have nonetheless been agreed on the requirements and on the process we wanted the Union to implement in order to make the necessary changes. Our frustration stems from the fact that we can see that the results have not yet been achieved. If our wish list is considered to be an over-decorated Christmas tree, then one could well say that the result from Johannesburg is more like a Christmas tree with no needles – but nevertheless a Christmas tree.
Our frustration also expresses itself when we are not able to make use of our abilities and our knowledge at summits. I still think that this message is one that the Commission should take note of. It is a matter of the attitude between Parliament and the Commission. This fact is, however, worthy of a much smaller degree of frustration than the situation we actually ought to be frustrated about, that is, the situation the world finds itself in. This is the problem we really ought to discuss today. The problems that might exist between Parliament and the Commission as to who should say what at the international meetings can be taken up in a forum other than this Chamber, and we should now concentrate on the problem that we actually need to do something about.
It is good that there is emphasis on us now having to start on the real work. We must ensure that the commitments and promises that the EU made in Johannesburg now find expression in our actual policies and that they are visible in our budget. I should like both the Council and the Commission to return to Parliament in February to report on what has been done up to then and what will happen in future so that the commitments from Johannesburg can be implemented. In this connection, I will naturally emphasise aid. The Member States fall embarrassingly short of the standard when it comes to international aid. There are few who actually come up to it.
I would also like to say a few words about the other commitments that the EU has made, for example at Kyoto, and about how things are looking with our own climate programme, which the Commission approved about a year ago, a two-year programme that comprises one half of the strategy to combat climate change within Europe. We come back to the other half, the trade in emission quotas, in October through Mr Moreira da Silva. It is a pity that we cannot also discuss emission quotas in this context, but I will, however, say something about the report that the Commission published about one year ago.
We have made good progress with what the Commission has put forward, but the Commission’s programme is lacking a great many important parts. Agriculture policy, for example, is still not included, but this could perhaps be included in the programme now since one year has passed. With regard to our targets and the 8% reduction we want to achieve, the principle must still be that climate policy should form the basis of energy policy. This should govern the formulation of our energy policy in future. We must ensure that this is expressed in our research programmes and in the directives that the Commission has promised, such as the directive on public procurement with regard to energy.
Transport remains the biggest problem. There are no good solutions, a fact that could be described as embarrassing. Less embarrassing are the local examples. The car-free day all over Europe on Sunday is witness to an enormous commitment of a kind that we should make much more often than we have in the past."@en1
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