Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-110"
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"en.20040721.6.3-110"2
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"Mr President-designate, if this House gives its approval and you are appointed tomorrow, you will become the next President of the Commission at a crucial time for the future of our Union and for European integration.
Two major issues in fact face us in the next five years. The first is the kind of Europe we want. Do we want Europe to continue being just a free trade area resting essentially on the sum of national concerns, or do we want to build a genuine political union that will be a project we all share in and that will carry weight in the world? That is the question we must ask ourselves.
I am convinced that our fellow citizens expect us to build that political union. In an increasingly open world, they want a Europe with a greater presence and better quality. Our fellow-citizens want Europe to be able to create growth and employment and in that way protect their social model. They want Europe to have a proper research and development policy equal to that of the United States. They want Europe to guarantee their security. They want Europe to set an example in environmental matters. They long for this Europe to do a better job of fostering their identities, their differences, their languages, their cultures and their values. Finally, our fellow citizens want Europe to carry weight in the world because they know that the world’s balance will be different depending on whether Europe exists or not.
This political union that we so much want to see will only truly exist if it has a consistent budget commensurate with its new ambitions. That, Mr President-designate, will be a very clear way of measuring the new Commission’s European commitment. Will you give way to the simplistic and restrictive vision of some Member States, or will you be able to convince them that a substantial increase in the budget is absolutely essential?
The second issue is the building of a genuine European democracy without which there can be no political union. Europe can no longer be for initiates, governments and experts alone. The peoples of Europe, the citizens, no longer want decisions to be taken without them. They need to understand, to be informed, to be involved and to know how they can influence their own destiny. I am thinking here, for example, of the decision the Commission will have to take on the opening of future accession negotiations. This crucial question has a bearing on the very nature of Europe and we therefore need to come out from behind the customary closed doors and hold a genuine debate.
Mr President-designate, the issues at stake, like the expectations, are immense and time is pressing, because the peoples of Europe will be called upon to vote on the European Constitution in the next two years. We must not, we cannot, disappoint them any more. That is our duty and our responsibility. That is why, if our Parliament decides to give you its confidence, we will be asking you to sound these two messages loud and clear: that political unity is essential for Europe and that democracy will at last give our fellow citizens their rightful place."@en1
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