Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-04-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20030604.2.3-013"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me first of all to congratulate the Greek Presidency on its courage and determination. Like Ulysses, you have navigated through turbulent waters, and there were perhaps times when you should have tied certain members of the crew to the mast when the transatlantic Sirens began to sing, but we do have time to improve the situation.
Finally, with regard to the transatlantic Summit at the end of this month, it is very important to demonstrate the will of both sides to once again take up our responsibilities within a multilateral context, particularly at a time when there are signs of hope in the Middle East peace process and an opportunity to work for the future of the United Nations.
Mr President, we must say to our American allies – and I am thinking of the extradition treaty – that they must treat us with equality, respecting our own legislative capacity and, above all, they must give us explanations – this is an important point – with regard to the entirely unacceptable situation of certain European citizens, in that law-free zone known as the Guantánamo base. This is also of importance in terms of our future relations.
In any event, it is very important that you take a significant step, respecting and supporting the results of a Convention which leads us to a European Constitution.
The central issue in this debate is the future of Europe, and it is within this framework that the Convention is working. I would also like to welcome the speech by the President of the Commission and to reaffirm, on behalf of my group, that we, who are working for the Convention, and who are participating actively, believe that it should produce a draft Constitution, and not just a list of options. This is an absolutely fundamental point. We also believe that to affirm the secular nature of the Europe we are building is a positive element, because it demonstrates our respect for all religions and for the complexity of our history. Consider, for example, that in Thessaloniki, until the Second World War, there lived the largest group of Sephardic Jews expelled from my country, which has a Greek, Roman, Christian, Muslim and Jewish history. It is a good thing that we are affirming Europe's secular role in this way.
With regard to external personality, it is also important, as the President of the Commission has said, that we genuinely affirm the fundamental principles and the criterion of majority as a working system. The Greek Presidency has indicated that the stabilisation and integration of the Balkans is an absolutely essential issue. And we must remember that, when we launched the CSFP, our first failure came when we were unable to reach agreement amongst ourselves. And that is what exacerbated the Yugoslavian tragedy. When we began to work together in Kosovo and Macedonia we were able to improve.
With regard to the final work of the Convention, I would like to point out firstly that the important thing is that no possibilities are ruled out, in other words, that the constitutional text allows us to evolve, because the text itself will not be able to change reality, but rather we must be able to continue with the Community method. And this involves certain fundamental issues. Firstly, the question of the Commission. If we say that the President of the Commission must be elected on the basis of the result of elections, this means, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, that you must make the Statute on European political parties an essential issue on the agenda at Thessaloniki, because without protagonists we will not be able to create a genuine democracy, in which the President of the Commission has democratic legitimacy, and I must say that it does not appear that the Council attaches great importance to this point at the moment.
Secondly, with regard to the composition of the Commission, I would say that this is an open debate within all political families but, in any event, what we must do is strengthen the Commission's capacity as a college and the authority of its President.
With regard to the establishment of a Council Presidency of a dual nature, President Prodi is well aware, as we all are, that such dual systems are not stable. There must be one body with executive power. We must support improvements in the Council's internal organisation, but an organisation based on two institutions which, to a certain extent, overlap, will not be stable.
The very important issue for Parliament is the need to enshrine the power of the law, of shared legislative power, which means that the Council must also act in a democratic and open way and, at the same time, we must maintain the institutional balance.
With regard to the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, I would like to insist on one point, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, and I would also like the President of the Commission to give his view on it during this debate. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, this issue does not relate to Parliament’s internal system. It is an entirely constitutional issue and therefore what you have to do at this point is not to resolve the problem, but essentially not to oppose the solution we have offered, which furthermore justifies and supports the need for majority decision-making. Remember one thing: in relation to taxation, Nice decided on unanimity, and this is producing entirely negative results. Everybody must face their responsibilities, and you have responsibility in relation to an entirely constitutional issue.
Mr President, please allow me to refer very briefly to two important issues. One is the economy. There has been a G8 Summit, in which the President of the Commission has participated. I would like you to be a little more explicit with regard to the development of the Lisbon strategy and also the euro, which is an issue of concern us, above all because the European economy is not working as a motor."@en1
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