Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-009"
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"en.20030701.1.2-009"2
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".
Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the half-way stage of a year full of ambitious projects and intense debate on the nature and destiny of Europe. I would like, first of all, to heartily congratulate Prime Minister Simitis and all those who have worked alongside him to achieve our political and institutional goals.
The third point I want to focus on is immigration and asylum policy and the management of the Union's external borders. The Commission would like to congratulate the Greek Presidency on sustaining a consistent and balanced position on these matters. Moreover, I am happy to note that the European Council conclusions were inspired by the Commission's communications of 4 June.
More specifically, looking at the issues still on the table, I would point out that Community financing should gradually rise to match the scope of our political goals and objectives. In other words, on no account can we pretend to be able to achieve all the goals we have set ourselves with the funding we have come up with. We have, of course, produced an estimate of resources which does not exceed the limits of the budget – we have remained strictly within the limits of the budget – but we have estimated the resources needed at EUR 140 million for the years 2004 to 2006, and at EUR 250 million for a multiannual cooperation programme with non-Member countries over the period 2004 to 2008. This will take us through to the new funding provided under the post-2006 Financial Perspective, which, as the Thessaloniki conclusions confirm, must reflect this political priority of the Union. Otherwise, clearly, if we do not succeed in giving the citizens security, we will be jeopardising the very identity of the Union.
As far as relations with third countries are concerned, the new programme of cooperation proposed by the Commission on 11 June will provide substantial support for the common readmission policy, which is another milestone, and it is crucial that you and the Council approve this proposal before the end of this Parliamentary term. Negotiation of Community agreements, with the support of the Council and the Member States, should also be stepped up. As I see it, Russia, Ukraine and Morocco, three key countries for these agreements, are the main priorities.
The European Council has asked the Commission to proceed
towards integrated management of external borders, and we believe that the best solution is to set up an agency; this will make it possible to improve implementation of the Council's strategic guidelines, in agreement with the relevant national authorities, in such a way as to constitute a network of coordination. We are also laying the foundations for what is known as the VIS, the ambitious European Visa Identification System, which is also a common instrument for implementing a policy which will reassure our citizens and give them peace of mind with due regard for individual freedoms. Indeed, the main thing is to strike a balance between security and our commitment to upholding freedoms, a commitment which we have made, which we confirm and which we can on no account go back on. Combating illegal immigration must therefore go hand in hand with measures to facilitate the entry of legal migrants into the Union. In this connection, let me remind you that we already have some proposals on the table, notably those on admission and residence for purposes of work, study, vocational training of immigrants and voluntary work to facilitate integration.
Parliament has already delivered an opinion on these proposals, which are still being discussed by the Council. The Commission welcomes the European Council's call to draw up an overall policy for integrating legal immigrants. We need better coordination of national measures at Community level as well. I feel that an annual progress report would certainly be a step in the right direction. There has been so much talk about benchmarking, dialogue and so on. I believe that, in such a complex matter where so many different factors are involved, a report taking stock at European level could be useful to both you and us.
We must show the same political drive in the field of asylum. In this regard, I am very disappointed to have to report that the Council was unable to reach agreement on the directive defining the concept of refugee and harmonising subsidiary forms of protection. We must achieve this, again within the framework of the debate on rights which we mentioned just now. Indeed, this directive, together with the directive on procedures, is at the heart of the common system. I want to take this opportunity to promise that the Italian Presidency will have the Commission's full cooperation in getting these two directives adopted by December at the latest, the deadline set by the Thessaloniki European Council.
I will now come to the last point, the statute for political parties. We welcome the recent adoption of the statute for European political parties by this House. This is the fourth success of the Greek Presidency that I want to mention today. Let me add to the many others my own words of appreciation for your contribution in settling an issue which had become never-ending and which it was imperative to resolve. A number of factors have helped us achieve this result: the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice, the new proposal drawn up by the Commission, the use of majority voting and, above all, first-rate cooperation between the Commission, the Council and Parliament. The issue of political parties was a complex one that had remained unresolved for two years. This welcome settlement was achieved only thanks to majority voting and the codecision procedure. We must learn from this for the future.
At last, European political parties have a clear and transparent framework in which to work and can count on a source of financing that will be borne, at least partially, by the Community budget. This is an absolute prerequisite for running a democracy and a measure that is part of the broader process of putting European integration on a constitutional footing. The proposal adopted lays down some clear and simple conditions but avoids being overly restrictive or too formally bureaucratic, and so I feel it is a sensible measure which will have positive political effects. Indeed, as we all know, the political parties are the key element in the Union's democratic structure: without them there can be no integration and no European awareness.
Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to the end of what I have to say today. As I said at the outset, there are many other issues worthy of mention but I think it is preferable to stop here so that we can focus properly on a few events of the past six months which have been of particular political importance. Lastly, I would like to thank Prime Minister Simitis and the entire Greek Presidency team once again. In these six months, they have taken some huge steps forward for Europe, and I am not praising and thanking this Presidency out of mere politeness but because they really do deserve it.
I should like to focus on four of these goals: the conclusion of the work of the Convention, the Commission reforms, the substantial progress made in implementing the Tampere agenda and the new statute for European political parties. Before addressing them in detail, however, I must mention some of the other major events of the last six months: the winding-up of the accession negotiations – a momentous event which Prime Minister Simitis has already discussed – and the handling of the difficult internal and international situations caused by the war in Iraq.
The reform of our common agricultural policy also deserves a special mention, the agreement last week bringing these six months to a close on a high note. One of the essential elements in this success was the opinion issued by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, chaired by Joseph Daul, which I would like to thank heartily for its work. Despite the extremely complex and thorny nature of the issue, the committee managed to deliver its opinion in good time for the conclusion of the negotiations. This is a real innovation, for the decoupling of Community production subsidies, partial though it is, combined with land-management, environment and food-safety measures, is a genuinely revolutionary step for our agricultural policy. We now have a good springboard for entering the WTO negotiations, and I expect our international partners – who are always lecturing us – to match our commitment and do their part too, for they too must do their part.
In these six months, the Greek Presidency has steered us safely through the most troubled waters with that wisdom and sensitivity that has characterised the Greek people since the dawn of our civilisation.
As regards the first point I wanted to mention, within the Union, the first half of the year was dominated by the work of the Convention, which was almost – although not completely – finished in time for the Thessaloniki European Council. We have found a method that has worked and that we could use to amend the Constitution if ever it needs to be revised in the light of the constant flow of new developments reserved for us in the future. As for the actual draft Constitution, there are positive and negative points in the Commission's eyes, as you know. It certainly makes the Union more transparent by simplifying and reducing the number of legislative instruments and by proposing a better division of powers between the institutions. It strengthens our democratic legitimacy by extending the codecision procedure so that it applies almost across the board, and this is something that is extremely important for Parliament. It increases our ability to make our voice heard in the world through a newly created foreign minister for the whole Union, through the establishment of a single legal personality and through new provisions on the foreign, common security policy and defence policy. Lastly the text of the Constitution now includes the Charter of Fundamental Rights safeguarding the rights of all European citizens.
These are the high points, and they are very important high points, but there are also a number of weak points where the compromise brokered does not go as far as we would have liked. Although the draft Constitution extends qualified-majority voting, it certainly does not go far enough. The proposed solution carries the risk of paralysis in a 25- or 30-Member State Union. When it comes to the institutions, moreover, it will be difficult to convince the citizens that only half of the Commissioners should have a vote in the College, at least in such a complex phase in our institutional life as this. Furthermore, the potentially overlapping roles of the newly created position of President of the Council and President of the Commission will be just as hard to understand. Some advances in economic governance are made but it is imperative that we also set up the external representation of the euro, lack of which leaves the euro, without a doubt, more vulnerable and our economy more exposed.
These are not just technicalities but issues which require us to muster the courage to overcome the misgivings and fears of the present and look to the future. We must realise that, if we do not make the leap today, Europe will no longer have any influence on the international stage in 30 or 40 years’ time. Viewed as a whole, however, the Convention's draft is a sound basis – and a joint effort which I support – for the Intergovernmental Conference that will have the task of approving a final version. The Commission will play its part in making improvements in this regard, starting with the opinion that will be published in September in time for the start of the IGC.
The second point is the reform of the Commission and the staff regulations. We are approaching the last year of the Commission's term of office. When I arrived, I made Commission reform one of my priorities, and I remember that we issued a White Paper as early as March 2000. A crucial part of this reform was an overhaul of the staff regulations for EU officials. Here, too, I must thank the Greek Presidency for driving forward these negotiations, which were, in actual fact, extremely difficult. Thanks to these valuable endeavours to mediate and drive forward the process, we reached a consensus on the best possible compromise, a compromise that respects – and I would stress this – the general approach of the Commission's initial proposals.
As a follow-up to this agreement, the Commission will submit a second proposal in the autumn that will, of course, take account of this House's resolution of 19 June 2003 and the talks between representatives of staff, institutions and the Member States taking place in the consultative committee. The aim is to bring the new regulations into force on 1 May 2004, the same day on which the new Member States will become part of the Union. In addition to this goal, however, I am interested in the ultimate political aim of the exercise, which is to ensure continuity, independence and quality in our departments. I have to say that I have worked with many administrations in my life, and rarely have I encountered such hard-working, high-calibre employees as I have observed in the EU institutions. I therefore believe that the new staff regulations will allow our staff to work with renewed energy and pride, especially when their colleagues from 10 new Member States arrive. It will not be an easy matter to absorb new cultures, precisely because 10 countries are arriving together, not just one."@en1
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