Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-14-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20060614.2.3-015"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Barroso, Mr Winkler, each of the main agenda items for the forthcoming European Council in its own way raises the issue of the meaning of European integration. Such is the case with regard to the results of the famous period of reflection and to the common energy policy, and Europe’s action in the world does not escape attention either.
I shall begin by mentioning the period of reflection and its extension. The first part of the Brussels Summit’s draft conclusion is dedicated to this and is charmingly entitled: ‘Europe listens’. That is all well and good, but what is it listening to? The document elaborates on the measures to combat illegal immigration, which, I might add, are most unfortunately juxtaposed in the same sentence with trafficking in human beings, terrorism and organised crime. It deals with the Union's intervention mechanisms in the event of a crisis. It stresses the need, in future, to take the European Union’s absorption capacity more rigorously into account before embarking on the road to any further enlargement, and so forth. These are so many issues that are, I agree, present in the debate with our fellow citizens. Strangely enough, however, the issue that is at the heart of the crisis of confidence plaguing the Union, that is to say the social issue, is, for its part, completely sidelined in the European Council’s draft conclusion, which, in the course of one sentence, merely calls on the Commission to draft a report on the situation by next spring. Saying that is not tantamount to sinking into crisisphilia, Mr Barroso. I would point out that the Austrian Presidency itself put its finger on this issue as far back as January. That is what we must discuss first in order to draw the necessary conclusions from it. The public’s trust is not given as a matter of course. It is won.
Let us turn now to the European energy policy. Helping to address the 21st century energy challenge is, in fact, a European responsibility
. Unbridled competition and the race for profitability are, however, unacceptable in this context. Preparing for the post-oil period, making far greater progress in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, developing the research effort with a view to increasing energy efficiency and diversity, transforming the way in which transport is organised and affirming the right to energy for all are eminently political tasks that, if they are to succeed, cannot be restricted by the short-sighted calculations of the market.
Finally, the same debate concerns Europe’s ambitions in terms of external policy. Who can oppose the desire to provide ourselves, as the Commission is proposing, with operational instruments and rules able to increase the consistency, effectiveness and visibility of our external action? It is my conviction, however, that the fundamental reason for the weakness of Europe’s action in the world is neither technical nor institutional. It is due to the tragic lack of political will and common vision at the European Council. How else can we interpret, at this very moment, the staggering inertia of the 25 faced with the Israeli Government's irresponsible torpedoing of the initiative of the Palestinian President, in flagrant and continual breach of both the UN resolutions and the Quartet’s road map? All of that reinforces our idea that the famous period of reflection and Plan D will only be useful if they represent an opportunity to hold a trouble-free debate in the open on the structural changes to be promoted so that Europeans might once again see a reason to be positive about Europe in the world today."@en1
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