Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-28-Speech-3-289"
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"en.20050928.24.3-289"2
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"Mr President, I would like to make just six comments.
Firstly, I would like to condemn the actions of the United States administration, which torpedoed the United Nations in general and these New York meetings in particular. They torpedoed them by appointing Bolton as the United States’ representative in the United Nations and tabling 750 amendments to the draft final text, which the international community had spent a long time working on, negotiating and agreeing, in order to empty it of any content.
It is absurd that, when the United States finally have to make a couple of concessions, there should be so many expressions of gratitude and congratulations just because they have not entirely completed their latest attempt to remake ‘Apocalypse Now’.
Secondly, I acknowledge that the European Union’s role in the summit has been relatively commendable and positive. It has also been relatively effective, when its Member States have acted in a coordinated and agreed fashion.
Thirdly, I would like to stress that the best example of this can be seen in what is undoubtedly the most worthwhile aspect of the New York Summit: with regard to the Millennium Development Objectives, we have not moved backwards, despite some people’s efforts to do so. The European Union acted firmly and at least ensured that the commitments and the timetable approved five years ago were maintained.
Fourthly, it is regrettable that the essential reform of the United Nations failed, a point that is as illustrative as the previous one, but in a negative sense. In this respect, our Member States arrived with differing visions and the Union was incapable of expressing itself, either through its positions or by exerting any influence whatsoever, and is therefore partly responsible for this failure.
Fifthly, we are pleased that the Summit has supported Kofi Annan’s ‘alliance of civilisations’ strategy, accepting a European initiative such as that proposed by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey.
And sixthly, we are delighted that Europe has contributed to keeping the United Nations afloat, saving it from the shipwreck that some people had been preparing for it. It is not, however, sufficient to keep the United Nations afloat, but it is essential to relaunch the organisation definitively. The European Union’s objectives must be geared towards that objective, but to that end, our Union will have to be rather more than simply afloat.
I shall end with something that an African politician said to us: ‘This world does not inspire enthusiasm, in fact it often causes disgust, but it is terrifying to think what it would be if Europe were not operating as a force for rationality, balance, a degree of coherence and, at times, solidarity’."@en1
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