Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-22-Speech-3-061"
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"en.20060322.11.3-061"2
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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2005, the people of Europe had the opportunity to tell us not only that they were expecting great things from us, but also that they were wondering about their future and about that of Europe in a context of globalisation.
The political strategy for 2007 must enable us to provide sound answers. Without either the interinstitutional agreement or the financial perspective for the moment, where do we go from here? We are in a situation that I would describe as complete hypocrisy. We want to debate actions that are important for Europeans, while, for its part, the Council, ever deaf to our arguments, is proposing practically no budgetary development. Our Parliament will not give up on the financial perspective. The needs are huge: youth training, research, transport, health programmes, the environment; a full list would be too long. Mr Barroso, you talk to us about a potential forthcoming agreement, but I have not heard you say the word ‘ambitious’ – an ambitious agreement – and I therefore remain sceptical.
In the dialogue that we are embarking upon, you can count on the momentum of our Assembly in formulating its political priorities for 2007. I am pleased, moreover, to see that the European Commission is finally recognising that economic cohesion, solidarity and environmental protection can be reconciled with our objectives regarding growth and employment.
You propose four priority areas: knowledge, businesses – and specifically SMEs – employment and ageing and, lastly, energy. We must in fact represent the best of the knowledge-based society. We can see what is happening in Asia and we must not remain helpless in the face of it. The European Union will only cope if it rises to the challenge posed by knowledge, knowledge that takes the form of technical and industrial developments. As regards SMEs, we must create a competitive regulatory environment and help our businesses to gain a better foothold in international markets.
You also intend to do away with the European laws that serve no purpose, those notorious useless laws that you just mentioned to us, which weaken the necessary laws. We totally agree with you, Mr Barroso, and our Parliament plans to be closely involved in the decisions taken to simplify legislation. Being simple, however, also means expressing oneself clearly. You want to make 2007 an important year where communication is concerned, and I approve of your ambition. Coining new words, however, has never been part of a good communication strategy. In the context of the main priority, that of employment, you introduce an awful word, ‘flexisecurity’. What does that mean? Europeans are going to run away faced with that highly technocratic word. ‘Brussels has invented yet another forgettable word’ – that is what we are in danger of hearing.
Energy is the fundamental issue. The year 2007 will have to be a decisive one where the guidelines on energy policy are concerned. We will have to be objective, disregard all ideologies, no longer treat nuclear power as a taboo subject and keep in mind that our energy dependence must never exceed 50%. As we have seen recently, energy is becoming a genuine weapon with which to exert political pressure. Furthermore, if, in the future, a non-EU country decides to cut the supply and plunge Europe into darkness, how will we respond? We therefore need to improve the means of transporting energy and to think, first and foremost, about solidarity among the Member States.
In the area of security and freedoms, the extension of the Schengen area worries our fellow citizens. They still have the impression that our borders remain porous and that the debate on immigration is still at the stage of wishful thinking. The future enlargement to incorporate Romania and Bulgaria will have to be decided in the course of this year. While I am on that subject, we note with interest your indispensable condition: that those countries will have to comply in full with the
Moreover, if the neighbourhood policy becomes a policy in its own right, then I regret that more is not being done in terms of establishing the strategic partnership.
The 2007-2013 period will also mark the launch of new European programmes. There will be a large number of them, and, if we are to launch them, then we need the financial perspective. We are only too familiar with the debate on Erasmus. Finally, we will pay a great deal of attention to the preparation of your White Paper on the reform of the EU budget. We ask you to involve our Parliament in this task.
The year 2007 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. Might not this be an opportunity, on the one hand, to see the European Constitution enter into operation and, on the other, to make 2007 the year of Europe in all of the Member States, so that the double standards stop at last and so that the truth can be told about how Europe benefits people’s everyday lives?"@en1
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