Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-10-Speech-3-032"
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"en.20040310.1.3-032"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to congratulate the Irish presidency on the work it has done in picking up the thread of an IGC that was cut short in December for the lack of any real political will to complete the institutional reform of the EU, even though this is crucial to the proper functioning of Europe in the years to come.
Speaking on behalf of the French delegation within the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, and joining with the great majority of my fellow MEPs, from whom you have already heard, what I ask of the forthcoming Brussels European Council is that it should demonstrate its determination, in political terms, to overcome difficulties which, whilst important, are still secondary to what is really at stake: making the unification of our continent a political, economic and social triumph. It is absolutely vital that the draft constitution put before us by the Convention, the exceptional success of which we can see today in the light of the difficulties the IGC had with it, should be adopted with the minimum possible delay. That is our message to the Irish presidency.
Moreover, the Lisbon objectives, which are ambitious but realistic, necessarily involve putting in place proactive policies enabling us to compete with our trading partners, first among them the United States and Japan, in the strategic areas of research and development, education, and lifelong training. Let us therefore implement these necessary reforms and overcome our fruitless divisions in order to make Europe a success on every front.
Europe’s citizens will be summoned to the polls in June to elect their MEPs, and they expect more of the European Union than is often articulated. They are relying on us to make it possible for them to live harmoniously beyond their own borders, to work freely and as much as they want, and to save them from being swamped by forms and pointless taxes.
Although the Spring European Council is certainly not the culmination of European history, it could well be a key staging post on the way to the speedy adoption of a Constitution and as we progress towards putting in place the economic and trading frameworks that are indispensable if Europe is, at last, to enjoy growth."@en1
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