Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-05-Speech-3-041"
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"en.20060705.2.3-041"2
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"Mr President, I want to thank Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen for his comprehensive presentation. I would especially like to endorse his concern regarding the justification of the Union’s existence, its legitimacy.
The virtual collapse of the Constitutional Treaty in the referenda that were held reflects not so much the immense control the people have over legislation but the suspicion and distrust which they feel with regard to the European Union. There is good cause for this. The huge amount of EU legislation, with all its meticulous detail, the vast and ineffective bureaucracy and the wholly disproportionate amount of monitoring and supervision make the Union objectionable. That is why the Prime Minister’s promise to invest more time and energy in better legislation, in particular, is important. I agree with Prime Minister Vanhanen that the Union must focus on the essential and do that effectively. Regarding the Constitutional Treaty, Finland has a splendid opportunity to take the initiative and show real leadership by initiating consultations regarding the extent to which it can be taken forward and what it should contain.
If the EU is to succeed in the context of global competition it will have to be made more competitive. Research, product development and training are crucial. Hopefully, the Presidency will quickly succeed in simultaneously introducing legislation and programmes so that the meagre resources contained in the financial frameworks can start to be used.
Finally, I would like to mention agriculture, although there is no separate mention of it in the programme. In practice it is the only area of policy in which the EU regulates the private citizen’s level of income. Our largest industrial sector, the food industry, is also dependent on it. Hopefully, the Presidency will succeed in protecting our agriculture at WTO talks, where it is the object of furious attack. At the same time I hope that the preconditions for sustainable and competitive agriculture are assured everywhere in Europe, including the peripheral regions, in accordance with the decisions of the European Council.
I wish my country, Finland, every success in its Presidency."@en1
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