Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-13-Speech-3-284"
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"en.20050413.20.3-284"2
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"Mr President, I will focus on two key issues. I wish to begin by saying a few words about the European External Action Service. It is of the utmost importance that the service be situated in the Commission. We must avoid all attempts to water down the new service by placing it primarily in the Council. Under no circumstances should the service be allowed to develop into an uncontrollable intergovernmental agency which starts to live a life of its own.
Only with maximum parliamentary accountability can we be assured that Europe’s noble goals for the rest of the world are achieved. Fighting poverty, defending democracy and advocating human rights are all issues in which we can, and must, cooperate based on common values. An intergovernmental service would be at risk of falling prey to many and more sectoral and strategic interests, and our common values and goals would be lost in the mix.
Secondly, we need to take both an ambitious and realistic approach to European foreign policy under the new Constitution, if and when we get it. The Constitution advances European foreign and security policy in many key respects and we must ensure that these commitments are upheld. Even though the developments embodied in the Constitution’s clauses of mutual solidarity – as well as in increased rapid reaction capability – are reflections of current practice rather than being innovations, we have to ensure that they are interpreted in an ambitious, concrete and binding fashion when they take effect.
The inclusion of mutual security guarantees in the Constitution should also be welcomed and consolidated. The opposition of some Member States can be countered with a few simple arguments. NATO is, and will remain, the backbone of European defence, there is no doubt about that. We proposed European guarantees simply to complement NATO provisions with a much-needed European dimension. They also support and consolidate decades of European political and security cooperation, which has existed outside the scope of the EU. They do not constitute a radical rewriting of Europe’s foreign and security ambitions: they simply establish that Europe must finally be mature enough to begin matching its economic muscle with some political voice and commitment."@en1
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