Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-145"
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"en.20030114.5.2-145"2
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"Thank you Mr President. The Greek Government is assuming the presidency of the European Union at a time of great international uncertainty. UN inspectors in Iraq are due to report back to the United Nations Security Council at the end of the month with their findings as to whether or not Iraq is in possession of weapons of mass destruction. No one can judge what will be in this report, but the military build-up of American and British troops in the Middle East is certainly an ominous sign that conflict in Iraq is a very real possibility. I welcome the recent comments of Prime Minister Simitis, when he stated that the United Nations is the forum that must be used to address the issues raised in the UN inspectors' report on Iraq. It is very important that the United Nations is the organisation that deals with international security issues. International global security is best dealt with multilaterally under the auspices of the UN, not unilaterally, and I welcome the objective for Prime Minister Simitis to secure a common European Union position on Iraq when the UN inspectors' report is published. This is certainly a very ambitious political objective but I fully support it and I am sure the majority of Members of this House do as well.
The European economy is not performing very well at present and the Greek Presidency is correct to accelerate the Lisbon Process. We need to make European businesses more competitive; more support mechanisms must be put in place to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises. The Greek Presidency is also making illegal immigration in Europe a priority. When it comes to protecting the borders of the European Union, a common approach is needed at EU level. Certainly we are going to have to reform under the EU Convention how we legislate for issues such as immigration, asylum, refugees, displaced persons and European visas. As has been mentioned, the Convention will now be reporting to European governments during the Greek Presidency of the Union. Members of the Convention plan to have the draft new European Union Treaty ready for the Greek meeting in June in Thessaloniki and liaising with members of the Convention and preparing this new Treaty are certainly going to be very important for the Greek Presidency.
As a result of the decisions taken at the Copenhagen Summit last December, accession treaties for the new Member States joining the Union are to be signed on 16 April. These treaties are being prepared and referenda will then be held in the applicant states. It is very clear that there are wide-ranging and diverse issues that will have to be addressed by the Greek Presidency of the European Union. The spectre of a conflict in Iraq hangs over us all like the sword of Damocles and that is something that we all need to have in mind.
In conclusion, I wish the Greek Presidency every success and would like to say, on behalf of my political group, that we will be more than willing to cooperate with them fully in the interests of the European Union as a whole."@en1
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