Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-28-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20040128.3.3-011"2
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".
Mr President, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to make a statement on the current situation in the Intergovernmental Conference and I look forward to hearing your views.
When Minister Cowen appeared before the Constitutional Affairs Committee, he gave an assurance that the Irish presidency would be open, fair and balanced, and that we would listen to all views and work to accommodate them. I want to repeat that message here today. We have no hidden agendas, no pet projects. We are determined that nobody will be able to question our even-handedness. We may, or may not, succeed. But this House can be absolutely assured that we will put every possible effort into this work.
As you know, in accordance with our mandate from the Brussels European Council, we have been consulting widely with our partners. The Taoiseach has already either spoken to or met most of his colleagues on the European Council and will have been in contact with all of them before long. Several more meetings are scheduled over the coming weeks. Foreign Minister Cowen and I have also talked to and met with as many of our counterparts as possible.
We also discussed the IGC over lunch at last Monday’s meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council. Notwithstanding the importance of bilateral consultations, we felt that it was also important to recognise the collective nature of the IGC and to have an informal discussion of where we stand. I was very gratified that there was full support for our approach at the General Affairs Council. The discussion was a positive one – there is considerable common ground. We are all committed to taking the work of the IGC forward and to concluding it as soon as possible. However, we all also recognise that there are sensitive and complex issues which remain to be resolved.
In these consultations with our partners and all those involved in the IGC, including of course the European Parliament, we are seeking to build a complete picture of the situation in the IGC. We want to ensure that we fully understand the views and concerns of all, to listen to what everyone has to say and, through active dialogue, tease out the exact nuances of their positions. This will help towards the second and more complex phase of our mandate to draw conclusions from our contacts and prepare a report for the March European Council. I do not wish at this stage to speculate about what that statement will contain.
We do not underestimate the complexity of our task. The issues to be resolved may be few in number, but they are highly sensitive and difficult. We will try to encourage progress, to build mutual understanding and to identify common ground. However, we cannot compel agreement in the absence of the shared political will to achieve it. There is an obligation on everyone to think not only of their own interests, but of the collective interest of the Union as a whole. In that context I want to reiterate the point made by the Taoiseach in Strasbourg, and also by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, before the Committee on Constitutional Affairs last week: 'If it emerges that there is a real prospect of achieving an agreement during our presidency, then we will not hesitate to seize that opportunity'. We intend to submit the fullest possible report to the European Council.
The Convention opened up the process of Treaty change and brought fresh perspectives to bear. We all – parliaments and governments alike – are accountable to our people, and the democratic authority of the Convention was underscored by the breadth of its membership. I am pleased that the great bulk of what was proposed by the Convention has stood throughout the IGC and will continue to stand. For example, the text clearly sets out the allocation of competences between the Union and the Member States, and the principles governing their exercise. It simplifies legal procedures and instruments. It creates a single legal personality for the Union. It enhances the role of this Parliament, and it also gives national parliaments an important part in the overall architecture.
By incorporating the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the draft enhances the prominence of human rights in the work of the Union. The values and objectives of the Union are more clearly expressed. Its proposals on the creation of a single European Union Foreign Minister and External Action Service should make the Union’s external policies more effective and coherent.
The Convention’s report remains and will remain at the heart of the IGC's work. But as a matter of both legal and political reality, governments are obliged to look very carefully at it, and in particular at those aspects which would affect them most directly. In due course it will be our duty to seek national ratification, in some cases through referenda.
The efforts of the Italian presidency ensured that considerable progress was made in resolving most of the points raised by governments. The work done in the run up to the Naples Conclave in late November 2003, and at Naples itself, was very productive. The paper prepared immediately in advance of the European Council was particularly valuable and struck a very careful balance. While, of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and while there are aspects of the Italian presidency's good work which were not the subject of final consensus, we believe we must try, as far as possible, to maintain the excellent progress which has been made."@en1
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