Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20041215.2.3-013"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should very much like to have been present at a meeting of the Portuguese Social Democrats. The President of the Commission, Mr Barroso, has frequently told us of his ‘blind dates’, which have attracted the particular interest of this House. This morning I have now heard from Mr Pinheiro that he prefers forms of cohabitation other than marriage. Interesting things are going on in Portugal. In this instance, Mr Pinheiro, we are no advocates of the common law marriage the EU is to enter into with Turkey. We wish relations between the EU and Turkey to be strong, resilient, and stable – in good Christian Democrat style.
We believe that the debate that is on the Council’s agenda ...
should consolidate what the European Union has achieved in its role as mediator in Ukraine under the Dutch Presidency of the Council. On behalf of our group, I should like to say – and I also address these words to the Dutch Presidency – that the European Union has provided an enormous amount of support throughout what has been going on in Ukraine over recent weeks, which represents a fundamental shift in the internal political situation towards democracy, freedom and human rights. It was the EU that acted as mediator in the country, and I believe that the staunch support of all those concerned, including the Dutch Presidency, has made it possible to achieve progress which will result in a greater degree of democracy, and which has proven that a united European Union, combining its forces and deploying them jointly, can make a genuine contribution to international politics. For this we are grateful, and we would like to extend our renewed thanks to all those involved, including Mr Solana, Mr Kwaśniewski and also the Dutch Presidency. Mr Nicolaï, I would ask you to pass on our group’s thanks to the Council.
I would also warn you against speaking of cultural differences, Mr Pinheiro. Zagreb may well look European, and so does Istanbul, but this is not the issue at stake; what is at stake, and this is a point I should like to repeat, is whether we are in a position to define what Mr Eurlings gave a precise description of in his report, namely that the European Union is a community of values – a political community of values – and that it is based on the Constitution with which we have endowed ourselves and on the Charter of Fundamental Rights we have enshrined in the Constitution. This community of values is open to everyone who shares these values, without any kind of cultural relativity, and this is a point I should like to reiterate once again. This is self-evident to our group, and, yesterday, we decided with what I think was almost 99% of votes within our group ...
in an open ballot, not a secret ballot, to give Mr Eurlings our support for his belief that, if this order of values can be enshrined in a Muslim society, it will be proof that this order of values is open to every person, of whatever religion, skin colour and cultural or ethnic background they may be. The reason why this is such an important issue, Mr Pinheiro, is that the fight against terrorism is also a subject for discussion at the European Council summit and during the preliminary debates. I believe that there is a direct connection between this issue and the question of whether we will manage to disprove the theory that the Islam of the most dangerous terrorists currently active, the Islamic fundamentalists, which they describe as the only Islam, and the order of values I referred to a moment ago are mutually exclusive. I believe that the mere opening of negotiations with Turkey, a step which also means that Turkey is prepared to submit to the Constitution and its rules, is evidence that the implementation of a secular social reality is not linked in any way to religion, but instead to the political will of a people. This is the crucial point, and this is an important contribution to the fight against terrorism.
I therefore believe that the debate on Turkey and the debate on the fight against terrorism are two sides of the same coin.
During yesterday’s preparations for today’s debate, we too discussed Romania and Bulgaria, and developments in both these countries. I will not deny that we regret that our friend, Mr Nastase, lost the presidential elections. It was a fair decision, and we should like to congratulate Mr Basescu. We only hope that Mr Basescu has a sufficient sense of responsibility, something which he did not demonstrate during the election campaign, not to enter into coalitions with parties in his country which are opposed to the European Union and which ride roughshod over our fundamental values. You may be sure, Mr Watson, that we will continue to observe Romania as closely as you have done to date, particularly with regard to the issue of whether the future Romanian President forms a coalition with the extreme right. This is something you can depend on, and something we will observe particularly closely."@en1
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