Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-164"
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"en.20030114.5.2-164"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, honourable Members, it is a fact that Greece is taking over the helm of the European Union at a crucial turning point for the European Union, both at home and abroad. We are on the brink of the biggest enlargement in the history of the Union, an enlargement which puts an end to a division which has lasted fifty years. We are about to draft a European constitution and strengthen our institutions, in order to guarantee the continuing cohesion of Europe, even after the ten new countries have joined, and ensure that it continues to operate as a political union so that it can achieve its objective, which is greater and greater unification of the nations of Europe. The Convention has called for more Europe on numerous occasions and the Greek Presidency will put the finishing touches to this structure in Thessaloniki in June.
Europe is also in the middle of a very serious downturn in the economy. The global economy is in recession, but that is nothing new. The economic depression in Europe has lasted at least ten years. Europe has resisted an inspired strategy, the Lisbon strategy. And now this strategy is also in danger of being washed away by the recession. I think that Greece, a country whose economy has recovered thanks to a programme of reform carried out on its own initiative, and a country which has achieved rates of growth putting it at the forefront of the European Union and has used this process to bring about a positive revolution in the agricultural sector, and a country which now has a first-world rather than a third-world economy, thanks also, of course, to the common agricultural policy, is now well prepared to breathe new life into the Lisbon process, which it badly needs if it is to survive.
In addition, Greece, as a country on the borders of Europe, has always linked trade between east and west and it can do the same now; it understands better than anyone else that the economies of eastern Europe have the potential to become a driving force behind the economy of the Fifteen. These creative prospects cannot be reversed. We are not going to cancel enlargement and we are not going to stop drafting a European constitution.
Their beneficial results, however, may be delayed if we have to deal with war with Iraq. I agree with my honourable friend Mr Poettering that nuclear weapons cannot be left in irresponsible hands. But nor can they be left in responsible hands, Mr Poettering. There are no hands responsible enough for these terrifying, apocalyptic weapons we have armed ourselves with. We do not know what is going to happen in Iraq. But we do know that the President-in-Office of the Council is the only European leader who has had the unfortunate privilege of dealing with the danger of his country’s becoming involved in a catastrophic war. He managed to avert that war. I trust the experience he gained will help him do as much for the war which is threatening the entire planet as we speak."@en1
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