Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-20-Speech-2-018"
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"en.20060620.6.2-018"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank the Austrian Presidency and Chancellor Schüssel. Although we are often in disagreement, I must acknowledge your friendliness, as well as the approachability and courtesy of your staff. Contrary to the view expressed by Mr Poettering, I am convinced that the experience gained in 2000 served to strengthen the European ethos of your government and that it was an important experience not only for yourself but also for the whole of Europe. In this connection – I refer back to the question of human rights – I should also like to request that you remind President Bush, when you next meet him, about the problem of the CIA flights. You have not discussed the subject with us; I should like to know whether you will discuss it with him instead.
I should now like to examine this Europe of results, which you have spoken about and which Mr Barroso has also mentioned. We gave a warm welcome, at the beginning of your Presidency, to your proposals and the enthusiasm you showed for the Constitution. What results do we see today? We find ourselves in a period of limbo and prolonged silence, with a Presidency that, contrary to its mandate, has not submitted an interim report nor sketched out a ‘road map’ with constructive contents. All this has contributed – let us not hide the facts – to the transformation of the main Parliamentary forum into a pleasant talk show.
At this juncture I should like to make an appeal to my fellow Members. It emerges from this Council’s conclusions that no involvement of our citizens or associations is envisaged concerning the proposal submitted by the governments. I fear in part the solemnity of the March meeting. Let me remind all of you that no crowds gathered in Rome on 29 October to celebrate the signing of the European Constitution. I do not want this declaration, like other things, to remain just a matter between ourselves, and I do not want us to often find ourselves discussing Europe in something of a vacuum. We must stop waiting for the governments to act and take note that the national parliaments for their part, or rather their leaders, sometimes seem more interested in protecting their own privileges than in playing for the European team. We must stop sheltering behind the ratifications: everyone, including Mr Schüssel, is now talking about modifying the text. We are the only ones not doing so. We must instead draw up a clear proposal in order to meet the next deadlines.
Mr President, I am very sorry to tell you too that this Presidency will be remembered for an unprecedented increase in the European budget for research into nuclear power, with the result that a continent almost entirely lacking in non-renewable energy sources has decided to favour, with investments four or five times higher than before, a dangerous type of technology rather than confronting the problem of energy efficiency and renewable energy. This does not seem to me to be an impressive result for the Austrian Presidency.
You have also mentioned the Brenner tunnel, though we would frankly have found the ratification of the Convention on the Protection of the Alps and the Protocol on Transport much more useful. I know that you tried in vain to convince the former Italian Government about this and I hope that you will have more success in this final week with the present government.
Concerning sustainable development, it seems to me that the sole feature of the Council conclusions is a wearisome repetition of objectives, already stated and restated – objectives that unfortunately have not been met – and that little is said about practical measures that should instead be taken. Moreover, the exceedingly timid reference concerning the ecological footprint and the commitment to reduce our consumption of resources by 3% per year has been removed from the conclusions. All this, Mr President, is completely in line with the policy of the Barroso-Verheugen duo who, unless they adopt a different line of conduct, are in danger one day of receiving the ‘Attila the Hun Prize’ for Europe.
One more thing, Mr President, very quickly: it is not true that immigration was discussed for the first time at the last European Council. I should like to point out the very important Council in Tampere and the one in Seville; positive, not merely repressive, measures to deal with immigration were discussed at both of these. I should like to point out that the only way of truly confronting and solving the problem of immigration at European level is to conclude agreements with third countries. We need to help them to escape from under-development, as well as define clear European policies for legal immigration into our continent. That is the only route to take."@en1
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