Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-065"
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"en.20060118.2.3-065"2
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"Mr President, Mr Federal Chancellor and President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I am actually very happy with the way in which roles are allocated in the European Union, with Chancellor Schüssel as both Chancellor and President of the Council and President Barroso chairing the Commission. This arrangement is beneficial for the European Union and also for our own country.
Fortuitously enough, the commencement of the Austrian Presidency of the Council coincides with my departure from the European Parliament at the end of ten years in which I have had the privilege of leading the delegation of the Austrian People’s Party – ten years in which the European Union has undergone drastic changes, and so have we. Pride of place among these dramatic changes goes to the enlargement of the European Union, for which I worked in many different capacities, and which has strengthened both the European Union and Austria. Our growth from 15 to 25 members is not now, any more than it was before, cause for our people to feel unsettled. It was not too rapid; it was the right response at the right time after the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the new start in Europe. While a further process of growth is of course necessary, what is important is something to which I am glad that the President of the Council referred, namely the standards that we must adhere to when incorporating new members into the European Union – standards that we must take seriously, standards that we cannot and must not undermine and subvert with a nod and a wink. Europe’s growth is dependent on the fight against corruption, the fight for the rule of law and for proper, democratic and transparent administration. Both institutionally and psychologically, Europe’s businesses and industries, Europe’s people and the European Union itself must be capable of absorbing the impact of enlargement; this is a criterion that we must apply in the forthcoming enlargement rounds involving Romania and Bulgaria, both of which will, I hope, meet the requirements in good time.
In his speech, the President of the Council referred to a number of things that I would like to highlight. The first is that Europe needs strong own resources. If, my dear Wolfgang, you manage to inject new ideas into the European debate and get Europe to at last get down to actually having this debate on own resources, that would be a great step forward. I have to say, by the way, that I think you have enough negotiating skill to solve the major problem of the forthcoming Financial Perspective by an accommodating attitude towards the European Parliament, which will make it easier for Parliament and the Commission to draw closer to the Council on this issue.
The second aspect that I would like to highlight is one that I regard as positive, namely Europe’s need for solutions to be reached between the two sides of industry and its self-evident inability, in this dynamic and global growth process, to abandon the concept of partnership between them. That is an important and basic premise. You have seen the dockers demonstrating here; social partnership cannot be used to put the brake on economic growth, but must, on the contrary, be a motor for it. At the end of the day, Europe and the European Union do need energy, not only in the literal sense of the word, but political energy too, and so let me conclude with an appeal. We need to give more attention to the neighbourhood policy, to the policy that makes it possible for the European Union to devote its attention to a country as important as Ukraine. There can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach where this is concerned. We need to give special attention to the development of democracy in Ukraine and to that country’s economic independence. I am certain that a number of things will be done about that under this Presidency.
Thirdly, there is a need for restraint where the proliferation of nuclear weapons is concerned."@en1
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