Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-14-Speech-3-007"
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, in a few days’ – even hours’ – time, the Austrian Council Presidency will experience a high point in the shape of the European Council, which will give us the opportunity to address and discuss a whole range of issues to which our Presidency has been attending, and to lay down results. During the Austrian Presidency, a great many issues have been addressed, and a great many such issues and problems have been solved – very often together with you, the European Parliament.
Europe should also bring greater security through its efforts to improve its emergency and crisis response capacities. Austria has been particularly committed to this in the months of its Presidency. The European Council will be presented with a report on this listing progress to date and making recommendations for further action. Former Commissioner and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier has presented a very comprehensive, stimulating, forward-looking report, which will undoubtedly be examined closely by all the institutions of the EU in the coming weeks and months. It contains a number of good ideas for solving this problem to the benefit of public security.
Another very important issue that cannot be sensibly solved without pan-European solutions is sustainable development. As we know, the EU has had a strategy on this since the Gothenburg European Council in 2001, whose objective is for all decisions to reflect the responsible management of natural resources. This guideline has now been completely renewed under the Austrian Presidency and further developed into an ambitious, comprehensive new strategy for a whole range of key fields such as climate change, clean energy, transport, and emphasis on sustainable consumption and production patterns. The issue of climate change, too, is on the agenda in this context.
The issue of the Lisbon Strategy is, of course, another important topic for the European Council now to be held in Brussels. As Austrian Chancellor Schüssel also reported here, the European Council examined this strategy in detail back in March, and provided a good deal of specific guidance. Since then, success has been achieved in the form of two important milestones: the compromise on freedom to provide services, for which the Council owes Parliament a great debt of gratitude – I should like to make that absolutely clear and express my thanks to the House – and the agreement in principle on the Seventh Framework Programme. In the case of the Services Directive, the Council stayed as faithful as possible to Parliament’s compromise. This Directive is a good example of how the institutions of the EU, cooperating constructively and efficiently, can achieve tangible progress to the benefit of our citizens. The Austrian Presidency is particularly obliged to Parliament for this.
It goes without saying that the issue of energy policy will be another important topic for the European Council. This issue has been examined and discussed on a large number of occasions, including in relation to third countries – and yesterday I had the opportunity to report to this House on the Summit with the Russian Federation. As regards the discussion within the Council, the main emphasis has been on the requisite internal measures, such as improving energy efficiency and moving over to renewable sources of energy. We now need to take external measures, too, and to this end we need a common, proactive approach that is properly thought out in geostrategic terms. On the instructions of the European Council, the Commission and Council Secretary-General Javier Solana have prepared a strategy paper that will be presented to the European Council.
Another issue on which, according to surveys, the public expects more Europe is the issue of external policy, of the EU’s external relations. The majority of the European public wants the EU to play an important role on the international stage. In spite of the progress achieved in recent years – and I believe this to be considerable – the EU still does not have the weight befitting its economic power and its contribution to international trade. There remain a number of deficiencies to be remedied, and thanks are due to the Commission for preparing a concept paper on this, which makes a number of proposals. I am sure that the Commission President will also report on this.
The issue of improving the functioning of the Union is also on the agenda of the European Council, of course. This rather grandiose title covers the efforts of the European Council to achieve tangible progress that is also measurable by individual citizens. This includes a number of initiatives that I should like to outline in brief. One initiative that is very important to the Austrian Council Presidency – and, I should add, to me personally – is the issue of transparency in the Council. These efforts are nothing new – progress has already been made in this direction – but the Austrian Council Presidency has attempted to find a global approach intended to create a new conscience about transparency, as it were. The core of this proposal consists in making the whole codecision procedure in all its stages open to the public. We believe that this is also a way of improving public confidence. We have not yet resolved all the reservations, but our Presidency is resolute in its intention to work towards this up to the last possible minute.
Subsidiarity has been an important issue, as, in addition to a conscience about transparency, we undoubtedly need greater awareness of subsidiarity. I should like to make it absolutely clear – because I know that here in Parliament, in particular, scepticism is expressed time and again – that we are not talking here about a desire for re-nationalisation. I wish to make clear that our Presidency has been guided by a different objective. We are talking about helping to focus European action on the specific fields in which it is capable of producing added value.
To this end, the Austrian Council Presidency organised a conference that was held in mid-April in St. Pölten, Austria, with the title ‘Europe begins at home’. This saw significant participation by Members of Parliament, of course, and you are familiar with the interesting proposals unveiled there. It is important to us that this issue now be a fixed item on the agenda and that it be borne in mind even more consciously than before.
I shall mention only briefly the considerable progress we have managed to achieve – and I hope that this will indeed be the case – on the issue of comitology. This is about powers of scrutiny, it is about the Commission, Parliament and the Council interacting efficiently. If the proposal drawn up yesterday between the negotiators can now be pushed through – both in the Council and Parliament – we shall have achieved progress that, although on a rather dry issue, is nevertheless important for our cooperation.
I should now like to move on to the last part of my speech: the future of Europe, the constitutional process, and the period of reflection. The period of reflection on which the European Council decided last June has meant that many Member States have taken more or less intensive initiatives to set in motion a real debate about the European project. The issue of European identity, too, has been examined from various starting points. I would remind the House of the ‘Sound of Europe’ conference at the start of the Austrian Presidency, and also of an event that, in my opinion, can definitely be called a success – the
(European Café) event that was held at the same time in all the capitals on Europe Day.
The topics for this European Council are very diverse, and so I shall have to confine myself to a brief outline of many of them. I am not claiming to cover everything, as I naturally wish to avoid encroaching too much on the speaking time of the Members of this House.
The Commission, too, has been very active, having developed its Plan D. I should like to express my particular thanks to Commission Vice-President Wallström for her constructive cooperation. We have had a good working relationship with the Commission, to the benefit of greater transparency and a better response to citizens’ demands and expectations. It has emerged that Member States would like to extend this period of reflection in one form or another by at least one year. The detailed arrangements and what should happen afterwards will be discussed intensively at the European Council and the relevant proposals made.
Moving on to the subject of the Constitutional Treaty, we have succeeded in breaking the silence that reigned at first. It was not a foregone conclusion that this debate could be revived, but we worked hard at it and, in late May, succeeded in holding a discussion of this issue between Ministers for Foreign Affairs for the first time in more than a year. As one of the participants in this discussion, I can say that it was very open, wide-ranging and useful and did clarify the way forward on many points, even if no specific decisions were reached. It has become clear to all of us that the problems which the Constitutional Treaty is and has been intended to solve are still on the EU’s common agenda and that we must continue to pursue the constitutional project as a common European project.
The discussion between Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Klosterneuburg also made clear that the time is not yet ripe for a definitive solution to the legal issues connected with the Constitutional Treaty, because not all Member States are ready as yet. Therefore, it will be a challenge for the whole of the Union and a particular challenge for the coming Presidencies to work to ensure that, by 2009, there is clarity regarding the legal basis of the EU of the future. After all, 2009 is a crucial year for various reasons: it will see not only a new European Parliament, but also one or two institutional challenges, such as a new composition of the Commission.
It is not yet possible to determine the exact mandate the European Council will grant in this regard, whether a time frame will be fixed – and if so, what it will be – and how to proceed with regard to this; the Heads of State or Government will discuss and take decisions on this. I believe that that will certainly be one of the key topics at the forthcoming European Council. One thing is clear as far as the Austrian Council Presidency is concerned, however: we must work together with all the Member States and all the institutions to make progress on the key issues surrounding the future of the European Union.
Finally, there is EU enlargement, another issue that will be given prominence at the European Council. I do not wish to go into detail on individual countries. You are familiar with the status of the respective negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania, which – we all hope – will accede to the Union on 1 January 2007. You probably followed the progress made the day before yesterday at the accession conferences with Turkey and Croatia in the face of all the problems that had arisen in the case of Turkey, in particular. In Klosterneuburg, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs did succeed in reaching some agreement on further common action. The Heads of State or Government will continue this discussion and determine how to proceed in the coming months. It has emerged that, in the second half of this year, the Commission will be working out, among other things, a contribution to the debate on the European Union’s capacity to cope with enlargement – for which, as you know, there have been calls from Parliament, too.
The conclusions of the European Council will mention the situation regarding the Western Balkans. As you know, this has been a particular priority for the Austrian Council Presidency. This issue is to be seen in the context of a policy of peace and stability in the Balkans. We shall be referring once more to the Salzburg Declaration by Ministers for Foreign Affairs and to the prospect of EU membership it holds out to the countries of the Western Balkans. A number of external –policy issues will be addressed at the European Council and declarations made on them: on the Western Balkans, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and the Middle East, respectively; and the EU Strategy for Africa will also feature on the agenda.
As you can see, there is an extensive menu in store for our Heads of State or Government and the President of the Commission. I hope that you will agree that we have worked hard over the past months on making some progress on all of these important issues, and we hope that the European Council will succeed in rounding off several issues and stimulating such discussion of others as is necessary in the coming period in the interests of Europe and of our citizens.
The forthcoming Summit will be a working Summit. There are no epoch-making decisions on the agenda, but the Austrian Presidency’s harvest – where it has not already been brought in – will be just outside the barn door. The barn door is wide open, and now we want to bring the harvest in.
In recent weeks and months, the Austrian Council Presidency has started work on a dual approach to bringing Europe forward – and this also applies to the forthcoming European Council. Firstly, this has involved addressing specific issues with the aim of making progress on the ones that are closest to the people: issues relating to prosperity, economic growth, job security, internal and external security, social security, energy security and much more.
Secondly, this approach has involved reviving the continuous debate on the future of Europe. This dual approach combining specific issues with the future of Europe will also shape the agenda of the European Council. Therefore, the Council agenda will contain first and foremost a number of issues that all participants agree require European solutions. These are issues that present our societies and citizens with problems that, in a globalised world, cannot be sensibly addressed without a concerted effort from all the EU Member States and, I would add, by all the institutions of the EU.
The first large group of issues concerns the area of security, freedom and justice. All the surveys on this, including the one by the Commission – and Commission Vice-President Wallström has also said this time and again – show that the public wants more Europe, expects more from Europe, in this particular field. In the last six months, a great deal of tangible progress has been achieved in this field: I shall make only brief mention of the counter-terrorism strategy, the enlargement of the Schengen area and the conclusion of visa facilitation and readmission agreements with various third countries.
We have also invested a great deal of time and energy in a Strategy for the external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs in the last six months – including making a start on developing a security belt, as it were, around the EU – and initiated a security partnership between the EU, our neighbouring countries, Russia and the United States. This Vienna Initiative, agreed at a tripartite Summit between the EU, Russia and the USA, will also be reflected in the conclusions of the European Council.
Migration has been and remains a particularly important issue and will also be dealt with by the Council, on the basis of a number of specific cases. Time does not permit me to go into too much detail. This important issue warrants its own debate, where it would have to be examined from various points of view: not only from the point of view of the fight against illegal immigration and of judicial and police cooperation, but also from a development perspective. As the person responsible for development matters in the last six months, I can say that we have been doing considerable work on the issue of migration within the framework of the EU’s development strategy, too, and that this is an important approach that we must not forget, including in our public presentation of the problem. There is no doubt that individual measures will be of no avail in this regard: only an effective bundle of measures will help.
Everything I have mentioned up to now is of course work in progress, and so the European Council is likely to invite the parties concerned to continue the momentum of work in all these fields."@en1
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