Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-059"
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"en.20041214.5.2-059"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have listened to each and every one of you most attentively. I thank you for your contributions, which reflect a wide variety of views in this Parliament. I also eagerly await the result of your vote next Thursday. The resolution that is then adopted will certainly be very important for the common strategic vision that we want for the European Union.
That is why I believe we have the duty to advocate effective multilateralism, whereby we work on a platform of equality and respect with our principal partners, we seek to revitalise the transatlantic alliance, and unite all our partners around values such as freedom, peace and democracy. That is how Europe progresses – by enriching its heritage, by building and renewing a dynamic consensus and by seeking to show the world those qualities that make it so different.
I should like to finish, ladies and gentlemen, by assuring you that the Commission will seek to take account of Parliament’s positions, so as to incorporate those positions into what we hope will be a strategic vision not just for one institution or another, but a strategic vision for all European institutions and for the European Union as a whole throughout the next five years.
At this time I think I might already draw three provisional conclusions. First, I note that the great majority of speakers agree with the need to define priorities that correspond to the public’s expectations and think it important that the European Union and its institutions should respond to the primary concerns of European citizens.
Secondly, the great majority of speakers identified three basic areas for action: the area we can call Lisbon, the Lisbon strategy (economic reform with a social and environmental dimension); the areas connected with security and justice; and Europe’s role in the world.
Thirdly, I also see that there is broad consensus on the need for a proactive cohesion policy, a true solidarity policy in Europe. I particularly hope that the Member States’ Governments have taken careful note of this. Accordingly, I feel that we can conclude that there is consensus regarding Europe’s need for growth and employment. Without growth, without job creation and without greater dynamism in our economy, we shall be unable to maintain the high levels of social protection and the exacting environmental standards that we regard as part of what is normally called the European model.
What is at stake is not, and never has been, the destruction of the European model. What is truly at stake is the need to adapt and to modernise this European model, and to take account of a number of new challenges that are now making themselves felt across Europe and the world. The increasing age of our population, the effects of globalisation – all this requires Europe to adapt and change within this more competitive context. I am pleased to say that I do not believe that concerns for economic efficiency and concerns for social justice are mutually incompatible. These objectives – greater competitiveness alongside sustainable development and social concern – cannot in any way be incompatible. We have to work to make them compatible. These are objectives that define one of our priorities.
I therefore believe we must work towards achieving the broadest possible consensus, but a dynamic consensus and one that is not the result of cancelling out opposing points of view, because we also have to recognise that there are some contradictory priorities here in Parliament. Accordingly, we have to identify the highest common denominator for a dynamic consensus. I think that one consensus that has clearly emerged is the need to strengthen our solidarity at this time when we have an enlarged Europe. We have a Europe in the process of reunification. Our enlargement is an enlargement that has only just begun. We have signed the treaties and have ten new Member States among us, but we have to do all we can so that we can soon stop talking about old and new Member States and become a real Union, and for that we need an active cohesion policy.
That is why I keep returning to the idea of a plan of values, and solidarity is certainly a value that can unite us. That is why I say that now, when I see the issue of European identity being debated so often in Europe, I have to stress that it is rooted in respect for our various national, regional and local identities. European diversity is what truly defines our identity and, if we want to define identity, we must define it in terms of the values enshrined in the European Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, that is, respect for the dignity of the human being, for human rights, for justice, for the rule of law and for the principles of freedom and equality. These are the values that define our identity. Respect for the principle of non-discrimination and tolerance towards anyone who comes in through our borders. It is therefore on the basis of these values that we can promote the idea of Europe around the world.
I said in my first speech that it is on the basis of these values that we can best look after our interests. We are looking after our interests with a more ambitious neighbourhood policy: a policy for our Eastern or Mediterranean neighbours that promotes stability and peace, as we have been doing in Ukraine, for example.
I should like to underline something that has not always been put into words. The signals that the European Union has sent out during the current crisis in Ukraine have been highly positive. Without any competition for the limelight, we have had the Council Presidency, the European Council, the European Commission and some Member States all involved in seeking a peaceful, democratic solution for Ukraine. That reflects very well on our Europe. We must also, however, have a generous development policy. As I have already said, Europe cannot be selfish. The policy must reflect externally what we now do internally, having overcome a great many historical conflicts by means of collaboration between Member States that were very often at war with each other in the past."@en1
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