Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-014"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020925.1.3-014"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioners, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Johannesburg was indeed a summit at which it was no longer the fine and already so often enunciated words that mattered, but the commitment to definite actions. I believe that this was also timely, as what we know to be necessary has long been an item on the agenda. If it is the worldwide acceptance of sustainable development that we are about, then it goes without saying that this involves the alleviation of poverty and the promotion of social cohesion in many countries of the world, that being the foundation stone for sustainable development and for environmentally responsible behaviour.
So it is that I find it all the more regrettable that the current American administration behaves as it does, making use of every tactical evasive trick in an attempt to forestall definite commitments with the ultimate aim of causing its own economic interests to prevail. I believe that this has to be said with the utmost clarity, especially in the light of how the European Union, the driving force behind this summit, tried to get the right questions onto the agenda and also to get to grips with the right targets for implementing sustainable development. This has, unfortunately, been only partly successful, mainly because the world's largest industrial state blocked it. The EU provided the driving force and indicated the right way to go, notably on issues of water supply, sanitation and environmentally friendly production.
I also found the daily discussions with the Commission good and appropriate, and am also grateful to the Presidency of the Council for, on three occasions, having very in-depth discussions with the Parliamentary delegation, although it is still Parliament's demand that the leader of the delegation at least should take part in the EU coordination meeting tomorrow and be able to observe and comment on the actual negotiating processes.
If, however, you point the finger at the right issues, three fingers are generally pointing back at you, and that is also true on this issue of sustainable development. One of these fingers is our agricultural policy. How, indeed, can we go on the offensive in demanding changes in production worldwide if our agricultural policies and subsidies stand in the way of fair dealing, if our agricultural subsidies are many times in excess of what we give as development aid?
Second finger: what about a system of fair trade for the world? To judge by the situation that coffee growers currently find themselves in, there is a need for bold revision of the trading system and also of the international financial flows, which have to aim at fair investments rather than the maximisation of short-term profit. The third finger, without a doubt, points to the issue of sustainable policies in our own activities. How successful are we in fact in pointing the European Union's transport systems and private households towards sustainability? We will have credibility in the eyes of the world only when we ourselves can make it clear that what we demand of others we also put into practice ourselves. That is why the climate change programme that we are discussing today is an important building block towards combining environmental policy channels with economic performance and social justice."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples