Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-29-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20061129.9.3-018"2
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".
Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, It is wonderful, Mr President, how we complement one another. I, too, was on the point of expressing congratulations, but I shall start with you first, and congratulate you on your election, by
yesterday, as the 2006 MEP of the Year; well done! I also want to congratulate Mr Schulz and Mr Watson on their re-elections; being a group chairman myself, I know, of course, just how much that means to them. I have just heard that Mr Cohn-Bendit has also been re-elected, and I assume that Mrs Frassoni has been as well, so warm congratulations to them too.
It is always a pleasant experience for group chairmen to get their mandate renewed for another two and a half years; I cannot, at present, say what my fate is going to be, but I rejoice all the more in the re-election of my counterparts.
In what you have said, Prime Minister, we hear the good European voice of Ireland, and what you said, you said not only because Ireland has done so well from the European Union, but as a convinced European, and that has always been the good experience we have had with Ireland. Whether it is your political family that is in power or our own – the last of your Prime Ministers from ours was John Bruton, who is now our ambassador in Washington – Ireland’s profound commitment to European integration is manifest, and your speech today made that clear once more. We rejoice and are glad that you are here today.
We now have to think about the future of Europe, and Prime Minister Ahern mentioned 25 March, which marks fifty years of the Treaties of Rome. I see the Berlin statement – a joint statement by the European Council, the European Parliament and the Commission – as a good opportunity to tell the citizens of the European Union that we, the European institutions – even though our opinions may well differ on one thing or another – are united in our determination to lead the European Union into a bright future. If we managed to achieve that in Berlin, we will have put down a significant political and psychological marker for the summit at the end of June, at which, firstly, a decision is to be taken on what is to be done next about the constitutional treaty, and, secondly, on what mandate we are to give the conference that is to consider that. Speaking on behalf of our group, and in particular of the PPE element in it, I can say that we do of course insist on this House participating in any such conference – effectively, powerfully, and efficiently – and we ask, Prime Minister, for your support in this.
We hope that will go ahead at the end of June and that we will be able to decide, under Portuguese and Slovene Presidency, what is to become of the constitutional treaty. I would like to make it quite clear, speaking on behalf of our group, and particularly of the European People's Party element in it, that we do not want to start again from the very beginning – it would be quite wrong to talk in terms of ‘new negotiations’ – but want as much as possible of the substance of the constitutional treaty to be retained, particularly as regards the reforms in Part 1 and the section dealing with values in the Charter. One reason for that is that we are convinced that we need these values. The European Union has no future unless it is founded upon values.
Another consideration is that we have to equip the European Union to face the challenges that are ahead, not only in its internal policies but also in its dealings with the outside world. We need to invigorate and strengthen the European Union, to make it more democratic, more effective and more transparent. You have affirmed your belief in that, and for that we are grateful to you. If we go down this road together, we will share in success."@en1
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