Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-126"
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"en.20040721.6.3-126"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Durão Barroso, on the long march towards European integration, you are appearing before this House to request the opportunity to lead its next phase.
You chose to begin your speech with an apt quote from Jean Monnet in which he speaks of the stimulating nature of the creation of this supranational democracy we are building together and I welcome his courage and bravery.
I am not sure whether you have received a poisoned chalice, but you have taken a step forward in the Agramante’s camp still present in the Council, after several people have fallen victim during a debate which has taken place behind closed doors. You have taken that step and are appearing today. I therefore believe it is an important step. And I must make a few comments in relation to it – and I do not address this just to you, but also to the members of the PPE-DE coalition – because we are innovating politically and constitutionally.
Mr Poettering has repeatedly demanded, by means of vetoes, his political family’s right, as the largest minority – that coalition is a minority, but is the largest European minority – to propose a candidate. You have achieved that. We are now in another political phase. Now you must win a majority in this Parliament and that is the task you are embarking on now.
I must say to you that we are carrying out an important exercise and, to put it in terms we Iberians will understand, you are asking us today for an opportunity. It remains to be seen whether you deserve it or are given it. But please allow me to express some of the reservations we Socialists have and which I have made public, and which I have discussed with some common friends.
Firstly, you preside over a social democratic party which has been part of, firstly, the Liberal Group, and then the PPE-DE Group in this House. You have never knocked at the door of the social democratic Socialist Group. I am not defending any ‘copyright’, but you will appreciate that this creates a degree of disorientation. You have also made a brief reference to the Lisbon strategy which was approved under the Portuguese Presidency in May 2000, with Antonio Guterres as President. You will agree with me, in view of what has happened in Portugal and in view of what Mr Bolkenende has said this morning, that the great question we are facing is how to interpret the Lisbon strategy.
We want a highly competitive economy with technological development, but we also want cohesion and to defend and update our social model. In that regard we are not in agreement, given what you have done in Portugal.
I therefore believe that you are now appearing to request an opportunity, and we Socialists will debate today whether we believe it is appropriate to offer it to you. However, in any event, the process will not end today. You will continue to be a candidate until the new Commission is proposed to us, until all the hearings of all the Commissioners take place and until a programme is presented to this House, with an investiture debate, in October. And that is the way it works.
Perhaps you will be given the opportunity, but you must be able to build a majority and the Socialist Group is absolutely essential to that majority."@en1
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