Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-007"
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"en.20031216.1.2-007"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the European Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say – speaking on behalf of the Members belonging to the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats – that 13 December 2003 was not a good day for Europe. We are disappointed, but, in our disappointment, in the darkness, a light shines, for it was on 13 December 2003 that we got the news that the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen had been awarded to the President of the European Parliament and thus to Parliament itself, which shows that we have allies in the cause of a strong, democratic, and active Europe. Mr President, we congratulate you on this distinction.
Today, we hear people pondering the idea of a ‘core Europe’, but how is that meant to work? A ‘core Europe’ is no solution, for the problems on which the few agree are always different ones. One group will agree on monetary issues; another on defence matters, and yet another on questions relating to the environment. It is for that reason that a ‘core Europe’ is no solution. We must walk together; together we must take the road that leads to Europe’s future.
I urge everyone to join in seeking out this road. People’s questions to me betray their concern; this very morning, a renowned European journalist asked me whether the euro would still be there in ten years’ time. Let us defend what we have achieved in Europe rather than jeopardising it. Certainly, what we need right now is a moment to pause and to consolidate, but let me tell you that we should now be thinking about Europe’s need for clear foundations in the shape of a constitution. We should not already be talking about further enlargements of the European Union that could put the whole concept of European integration even more at risk.
I would like to conclude by reiterating my gratitude to the Italian Presidency for its goodwill. We know how difficult things are in Europe, but Europe will indeed suffer harm if we now lack the will to keep on working on the basis of what the Convention produced. Next Thursday and Friday, we will be in Dublin, and I hope that the Irish Presidency will do everything in its power, starting by sounding out the individual governments as to their positions, so that the foreign ministers can then achieve a result that will enable, in due time, a summit of the European Union to be held, at which the European Constitution can be adopted. In this responsibility we all share.
This is not a day for apportioning blame, but a day in which, despite the difficult situation in Europe, to have faith and to keep working on Europe – with patience, but also with the passion that the task demands. Our group is determined that this Europe should be a success, and for it to be that, we need a European constitution.
That the Intergovernmental Conference has failed must not mean that the Constitution has failed. Let me say, on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, that there must be no doubt about our desire for a European constitution, that we declare our determination that there should be one, and that we are striving to have one as soon as possible, because without a constitution, Europe has no future in the twenty-first century.
We want a European constitution, because, in a community of 450 million people – and perhaps eventually even more – it is the only foundation for our peaceful progress through the twenty-first century. We need a constitution so that the problems that arise in our society can be resolved on the basis of law. We need a European constitution in order to be able to defend our European values in the world. Let there be no doubt about our desire for a European constitution founded upon Community law. We will stubbornly resist any attempt to take us back to mere intergovernmental cooperation or to the formation on our continent of axes squaring up to each other.
I would like to thank the Italian Presidency and the President of the European Council for having managed to get agreement – as you said – on 82 points. My appeal to all those in positions of leadership is this: let us not again unwrap this package; let us instead focus on the few contentious issues that remain. No one European government is in the right, and nor will we get caught up in apportioning blame, for once started on that, we will soon come to recognise that almost all of us bear a large part of the responsibility for Brussels having been inconclusive. Rather than holding just one, two or three countries responsible, we now need the good will of all.
We need a compromise; our willingness to compromise has always been a distinctive characteristic of Europe, for compromise is an expression of our shared goodwill, of our mutual trust, and of our desire to go forward into the future together. Let me make it perfectly clear that if a government thinks – and I am putting this in very abstract terms – that it can get out of European solidarity and defend only its own national interests, then such a government will, if that is how it behaves in future, be excluding itself from European solidarity. Solidarity is not a one-way street; it is binding upon all, and so it is that the practice of solidarity is in the national interest, because those nations that withdraw from European solidarity will end up having no part to play in Europe."@en1
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