Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-010"
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"en.20050511.3.3-010"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank Mr Schmit and Mr Almunia for their contributions. There is a lot that can be said about the World Bank, its governance and, in particular, how its managers are appointed. The recent election of Mr Wolfowitz shows that qualifications for the specific task have played a smaller role than political merits. It shows that the appointment of senior managers in the international system still leaves a lot to be desired.
I have little time, however, so I shall focus specifically on relations between the EU and the World Bank. Both Mr Schmit and Mr Almunia indicate the current weakness that lies in our not acting in unison and not speaking with one voice. In the case of Parliament, we recently had a meeting with the European directors of the World Bank, and they were completely united in calling emphatically for a higher degree of unified action from the EU on development issues, both across the board and specifically when it came to work in the World Bank. About a month ago, we also had a meeting with Jeffrey Sachs in the Committee on Development, and he asked why, given that the flow of money by way of aid from the EU is hugely greater than that from the rest of the world, the EU does not take more concerted action. In that way, he said, our work would be more effective and produce better results, and we would also have greater influence in every dimension of this important context.
The fact is that both Mr Schmit and Mr Almunia emphasised in their contributions that something is missing at present. How are we to take more concerted and unified action in foreign policy if we continue to act in such a divided way in these international institutions? It is also typical that, in the talks now being conducted on the future composition of the Security Council, we have no discussion at all about whether the EU, as a unified body, should have a place on the Security Council and about the fact that what still counts is, instead, the Member States acting on a national basis.
I can only emphasise, on the basis of where I stand, that we must bring about change at this level. We need to cooperate in a more concerted manner and we must harmonise our efforts in a quite different way in order genuinely to obtain the results we want from action taken by the EU and to be able to accept greater responsibility in the global arena."@en1
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