Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-024"
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"en.20030701.1.2-024"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Thessaloniki European Council was dominated by the presentation of the draft Constitutional Treaty drawn up by the Convention. In that respect, it could thus be said that a political process which began at the Laeken Council has come full circle. At Laeken, less than two years ago, the Heads of State or Government decided to set up a convention whose aim was to consider the main problems facing the future development of the Union.
As we all know, the Convention’s task was to draw up a final document which under the terms of the Laeken conclusions themselves, may – and I quote – ‘comprise either different options, indicating the degree of support which they received, or recommendations if consensus is achieved.’. Very much under the impetus of its President, the Convention rose to this challenge issued at Laeken by seeking out a third way. This consisted of drawing up a complete draft Constitutional Treaty, a kind of closed structural framework for the future of the Union. It is worth saying that the text of the Convention was not a consensual one and nor could it have been. Without going into detail, we must recognise that there were many contradictions, controversies, omissions as well as successes which, taken together, resulted in a necessarily imperfect synthesis. This synthesis will put to the test the ability of governments of Member States to cooperate and take decisions at the next Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). This is why the Convention’s work was rightly considered by the Council to be a mere starting point, not a final destination. A good starting point, it is true, but no more than that.
Mr President, I would like to outline two final points. The first is to note that, if the solution favoured by the Convention for the future of the Presidency of the European Council goes ahead, the Greek Presidency will remain inextricably linked to the beginning of the end of the excellent democratic practice, carried out every six months here in the European Parliament, of assessing the work of the Presidencies. These regular debates on major European issues will come to a ruinous end without the least profit or advantage being drawn from it, as far as I can see. To my mind, the opposite is the case. This is undoubtedly due to my own shortcomings, but that fact does not prevent me from expressing one desire. This is the desire that the balance-sheet of the Greek Presidency that we are drawing up today should not be a final balance-sheet, the beginning of the end of a way of undertaking the Presidency of the Union which we consider crucial to safeguarding equality between Member States. To sum up, and I will end on this second point, we would like to congratulate the Greek Government on the excellent results of its completed Presidency. We are sorry, however, that this is the last time we will be able to pass on our congratulations to Greece in the same circumstances."@en1
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