Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-12-Speech-3-017"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050112.3.3-017"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
Mr President, this is the eleventh Luxembourg presidency. Mr President-in-Office, your presidency has high standards of its own to live up to and the high expectations of others to meet.
Simultaneously President-in-Office of the European Council and of the Economic and Finance Council, you are in a unique position from which to reach agreement on one of your biggest and most delicate objectives – the financial perspectives for 2007-2013. Liberals and Democrats are pleased to note that in your presidency programme you say that 'all progress towards European construction requires adequate financial resources'. We hope you will not be limited by dogmatic demands to cap the Union's budget at 1% for the next decade. We are not profligate with European citizens' taxes and we insist that every euro be well spent and properly accounted for. Nonetheless, we, too, recognise that the European Union has justifiable ambitions, whether to run a coherent security strategy, generous development policy or an effective policy of regional aid and social cohesion. These all have a cost, and we should not limit our political ambitions by penny-pinching over what is, after all, a relatively modest budget. I wish you every success in securing agreement in June, for I fear the approach of your successors in this, as in other matters, is unlikely to command a consensus.
My Group will call upon you to specify new arrangements for the Stability and Growth Pact, which underpins the single currency. As 'Mr Euro', it is your right and duty to speak out for the euro and the euro zone. If France and Germany are allowed to escape with a mild rebuke for exceeding the deficit limits for several consecutive years, if Greece is absolved from misrepresenting its true fiscal state to gain fast-track entry to the euro, and if Italy continues to be reckless with its budget while harbouring a public debt of over 100%, who will have confidence in those rules? The Stability Pact needs adjusting but it also needs enforcing, with proper monitoring arrangements like those used by the IMF. We will look to you and your Council colleagues to be vigilant and true to your commitments.
Your term in office will coincide with the mid-term review of the much vaunted and little respected Lisbon Agenda. It is in serious danger of stalling. Your commitment to a relaunch at this halfway mark will bear fruit if you succeed in completing the single market, in finding more funding for research and in promoting a favourable climate for entrepreneurship. But do not try to be all things to all people. Structural labour market reform is essential to Lisbon. Neither should you underestimate the challenge of enforcing existing directives. Your proposal to make national governments accountable to their peers, as well as to national parliaments and public opinion, is a good one and the Commission must be entrusted to monitor the measures needed and not be afraid to name and shame the laggards.
My Group also welcomes your commitment to move to the Community method in matters of justice and home affairs so important to our citizens. We also share your ambitions for enlargement. New arrivals are on the horizon. Bulgaria and Romania will shortly be joining us. Croatia is a candidate country with which you must open negotiations. Let us be clear, as regards Croatia, that we expect General Gotovina to hand himself over or be turned over to The Hague to answer the case against him. Croatia cannot duck that issue. As Mr Poettering said, we cannot ignore the momentous events in Ukraine in the last two months. As a collective body of institutions, we must encourage the opening-up of that country and review bilateral relations in the light of new circumstances. That is a task for your presidency.
In conclusion, as the Constitution enters its ratification phase, you may have three referenda on your watch, and you must do all in your power to make sure they succeed. If political forces in Spain are allowed to raise the ghost of regional autonomy, if, in France, the debate is muddied by Turkish membership, if, in Britain, EU financing becomes an issue in the Constitutional Treaty debate, the whole thing will come crashing down around Europe's ears. Leave those issues where they belong and make sure Europe gets the Constitution it needs."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples