Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-128"
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"en.20040721.6.3-128"2
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"Madam President, Mr Durão Barroso, I would like to start by congratulating Mr Durão Barroso on the content of the communication this afternoon and I would like to express my satisfaction at the fact that he is the candidate proposed as President of the European Commission.
You have put it quite rightly. This is not just any old moment, these are not normal circumstances, it is not just any old Commission you are going to lead over the coming years and there are at least three reasons for such an unusual situation.
The first reason is enlargement – I am not sure we appreciate that this will be the first Commission since enlargement. The second reason is that five years ago, when the mandate of the previous Commission began, the horrendous terrorist attacks of 11 September, and those of 11 March in Madrid, had not yet taken place. And, thirdly, because these events have been accompanied by a drop in turnout at the European elections.
Possibly, for these three reasons, in colloquial terms, we should take a break in our journey. But in politics there are no breaks and in the European Union we cannot take any break or stop. But that break must be replaced by reflection more profound than ever and which, at the same time, allows us to aim higher than ever, when it comes to dealing with the future of the European Union.
This afternoon, I believe there is a conclusion we all agree on: we have all said we must strengthen the European institutions and have all emphasised in particular that we must strengthen the Commission. We all agree on this. The question is how we can strengthen the Commission further. You have also put it very well: it is not a question of the Commission having lots of powers, but of it being able to lead, guide, organise and establish priorities.
I am left with two of the key issues you have pointed out this afternoon: firstly, that the Commission, above all, has to be able to lead, guide and organise the work of the Ministers of the nations making up the European Union; secondly, that there will be no foreign policy for the European Union unless we first have a solid internal policy able to deal with the common problems we Europeans share.
The question for tomorrow, therefore, is: how will we strengthen the Commission? By strengthening or castigating the President of the Commission, through our vote? I have no doubt that the strengthening of the Commission demands that the President of the Commission can count on the full support of the whole of this House and, for this reason, when we vote tomorrow on the appointment of this candidate, I would ask that, over and above personal considerations and ideological issues, we think of institutional stability."@en1
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