Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-10-Speech-3-012"
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"en.20040310.1.3-012"2
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"Mr President, firstly, my sincere thanks and appreciation to the President-in-Office for the very open, sincere and straightforward presentation he made this morning; it clearly shows his respect for Parliament, for which I thank him. I also thank Commission Vice-President Kinnock for his congratulations and good wishes for Ireland winning the Triple Crown, particularly after their tremendous win at Twickenham last weekend.
The spring summit will focus on two primary issues: first, to move forward a raft of new EU legislative provisions to ensure that the European Union becomes more competitive; second, to assess the state of negotiations with regard to enacting a new European Union treaty.
A strong competitive and stable economy is essential in order to deliver sustainable growth and a better quality of life to the citizens of Europe. We must do more to advance the Lisbon strategy so as to ensure the Union becomes the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. In creating more and better quality jobs in Europe, we must implement a broad-ranging set of policies at EU level. We know that the internal market is said to have created over 2.5 million jobs within the last ten years alone. We must fully implement the Action for Growth initiative, which will bring about an increased level of investment in the European energy and transport networks. The Action for Growth initiative must also ensure that the research and development investment target of 3 % of GDP within the Union will be met by 2010. All new EU legislation must be subjected to strict tests for its impact on enterprise and competitiveness. The financial services action plan must be implemented so that there will be an integrated financial services market in the Union by 2005. A Community and patenting system must also be enacted within the Union.
The Union cannot become the most knowledge-based economy in the world unless it takes full advantage of the new and evolving information technologies. The e-Europe 2005 programme will seek to introduce a greater level of broadband to schools to guarantee access to high-speed Internet services and increase skills development for our young people. I firmly believe that the benefits of the information society must be spread to both urban and rural areas and to all regions within the Union.
The President-in-Office of the Council, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, will present to this meeting an assessment as to the state of the negotiations with regard to the new EU treaty. Mr Ahern has accelerated the process of negotiation with other EU governments, in an effort to move quickly forward the discussions concerning the key bottom-line issues.
We all know that we must put in place a new European Union treaty, if the European Union is to modernise and become more effective in a Community of 25 Member States. Enshrined within this process must be recognition of the role of smaller states, which must be protected within any new future institutional framework. It is never easy to broker an agreement and that is why it is taking time to enact a new European treaty. These negotiations should not detract from one particular fact, namely that the enlargement of the Union will take place on 1 May 2004."@en1
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