Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-17-Speech-3-244"
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"en.20070117.13.3-244"2
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"Madam President, I am delighted that this week in Strasbourg, we are able to vote on the first five-yearly review of the Cotonou Agreement since we concluded it in 2000 for a 20-year period. This agreement covers 78 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean and involves no fewer than some 750 million people.
It is a partnership agreement about aid and trade and sets an example others should follow with regard to sustainable relations between the EU and development partners. Europe as a soft power in conflict prevention, good governance, the fight against corruption – these things mean that, together with the EU Member States, we can make the difference as far as the Millennium Objectives are concerned.
From 1 January 2008, nearly EUR 24 billion, half of the total EU’s development budget, will be available for a six-year period. This is why it would be useful for Parliament to monitor spending in respect of the European Development Fund, but unfortunately, Commissioner, this EDF budget is not incorporated in the EU’s own, which is something you in the Commission and we in this House would both have wanted.
In order to add meaning to the European Parliament’s role, you, together with the Council – which is unfortunately absent today – will need to make specific agreements with us, as we did for the Development Cooperation Instrument, the DCI, which I would urge you to take as a model for the national policy documents of the ACP countries, in other words for more or less the whole of our Africa policy.
This means that Parliament will be informed in good time, enabling it to make a meaningful contribution to the national policy documents. This will also translate into a clear and transparent process and an open dialogue between the Council, the Commission and Parliament. Moreover, this will improve Parliament’s input and scope for monitoring the programme, as well as implementing and assessing national policy documents. This will also mean that the people’s representation is not far removed from us, or from them, the parliaments in those countries or society.
Ownership is all very well, but this does not just involve the Finance Minister in a country like this; it also involves the parliament, the government and society. If we go down this road, then, we are faced with the weighty opinions of the parties involved, even before the policy has been signed and voted on. We want to move away from a situation where we all talk about the Millennium Objectives at the same time as Africa is actually moving further away from them, as is evident from the fact that we only appear to be filling in the cracks in the roads, however useful this may be. We want the Millennium Objectives to take centre stage in the ACP countries too.
I would urge you to give this House democratic clout in respect of the EDF which amounts to half of the EU development budget. This will stand both the Commission and the Council in good stead. Pledge your support to democracy in Europe. Which steps do the Commission and Council intend to take in order to achieve this?"@en1
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