Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-22-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20031022.2.3-011"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, the Intergovernmental Conference was at the heart of the Brussels Summit, and our group welcomes the Italian Presidency’s determination and goodwill in intending to come up with a result in time for the Summit on 12/13 December. We wish to encourage you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, in your endeavours to bring this about, for, if the Intergovernmental Conference drags itself out into 2004, there is an even greater risk of further chapters being opened, with the result that we will not come to a conclusion. We therefore urge you to do everything to enable a result to be achieved under your presidency. We are alongside you in doing so. As regards the institutional issues, we urge that any solution to the problem of the Commission’s composition should be satisfactory to both the large and small countries. We warn against the mere acknowledgement that the larger countries have claims, for the smaller ones, too, are entitled to appropriate representation, and this is an issue I wish you much success in resolving. If you manage to do so, then it will also be possible to resolve the issue of the European Council’s Presidency and of its composition.
We therefore appeal to our American friends to abide by the principles of human rights. Consider, if you will, that these 600 detainees include five or six who have done nothing. What harm is being done to these people, and how unjustly they are being treated! That is the actual crux of our European attitude to the death penalty. Even if only one person is wrongly executed, that is sufficient reason to deny the death penalty any justification whatever.
What I say to the Americans I say as one who thinks of himself as one of their friends, urging them to understand our position, which is founded on the rule of law and on human dignity, that every human being is of equal worth, whatever the colour of their skin, their gender, or their nationality.
Let me turn, for my final comments, to the subject of European defence. I speak as one who had the pleasure of serving for ten years as chairman of Parliament’s security and disarmament subcommittee, when we always supported Europe’s strong defence capacity as a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. We want the North Atlantic Alliance to be founded on the twin pillars of Europe and the USA, and we would ask our American friends to understand why we are reinforcing Europe’s defences. Far from this being in opposition to the US, we seek to complement each other, and want to be strong together. At the heart of this is our joining in defending our common values. It is on that foundation that any common European defence policy must rest.
As regards the voting in the Council of Ministers, the overwhelming majority in our group is not of one mind; there are one or two exceptions, but the overwhelming majority favours the dual-majority principle as proposed by the Convention. We take the view that the Convent has put before us a proposal that is in line with the Community method, and one that we should allow to succeed.
Turning to the Legislative Council, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, we insist that transparency and continuity be introduced into the legislative work of the European Council of Ministers. This is an area in which we must not revert to old-style secret diplomacy, with it not being known what goes on behind the doors of the Council of Ministers.
One problem that we must resolve is the Maastricht issue, that of price stability. Although price stability is a constituent element in the Constitution, nowhere do we see the 3% deficit limit being kept to, and general requirement to maintain price stability is of little use if it lacks an explicit basis. We therefore ask that it be ensured that clear and quantifiable bases, with reference to protocols, are in place in order that price stability should not exist merely in theory, but may, in practical terms too, remain a central element in our common policy.
If I may comment on the external borders, it is with great joy that I have heard that Mr Berlusconi, the President-in-Office of the Council, and Mr Prodi, the President of the Commission, have come to an agreement on immigration matters.
We in the European Union do, of course, need our external borders to be protected, but our concern is that protection of the external borders resolves only part of the problem, which is a profoundly human one. The sight of wretched, hungry, thirsty people, including children – such as we have seen on the shores of the island of Lampedusa – shows that this is not just about the protection of our external borders, but about these pitiable people being given a chance in their own countries and not needing to get in their boats. That is why it is important that border controls should be carried out within the countries from which these people emigrate and that developments in them should be brought to completion so as to make it possible for young people to look forward to a proper, good, and decent future in their own homeland. To that end, we, the European Union, have our own contribution to make in the Mediterranean region.
The word ‘Guantanamo’ featured in my notes – with which I can now dispense – even before we heard of Mr Watson’s symbolic and expressive action in the Chamber. We take the view that major problems are adequately addressed by the use of persuasion. Our concern is not only with the twenty-six Europeans, but also with all those who are detained in Guantanamo. Whilst we are all in favour of combating terrorism, our Christian conception of man teaches us that every human being, even the worst of criminals, has the right to be tried in accordance with the law."@en1
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