Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-13-Speech-2-008"
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".
Mr President, Mr Poettering, former Presidents and present Members of the European Parliament, Mr Barroso, President of the Commission, you, Mr President, are one of the Members of your House who witnessed its first hours; it could, I think, be said that you have helped shape this House in its remarkable growth from its earliest infancy to becoming what is now a very emancipated parliament with confident Members, clear party structures and parliamentary groups, and hence a demanding partner in European debate, and one we cannot imagine ourselves having to do without.
We will have to hold discussions on developing a competitive internal market; we can already sense that these will be very difficult, but that will come as no surprise to anyone who has studied the subject. We will not shy away from these debates, for a functioning internal market within the energy market is essential. We intend to put the issue of energy efficiency on the agenda, and we will talk about renewable energies. The German EU Presidency will appeal for the adoption of specific figures and reduction approaches which are binding. I want to make it absolutely clear that no Member State can evade this responsibility. For this reason the Federal Republic of Germany, if I may say so as Chancellor, has already had to make compromises with the Commission, and we did not find that easy. We did this quite deliberately because I believe that each Member State must do its part. It would be foolish to believe that climate protection works without anyone noticing, and that is why that erroneous belief must be abandoned.
We will have to give our attention to the topic of external energy policy, particularly in the negotiations on a cooperation agreement with Russia. Here, too, I have to say that we hope and are working to ensure that these negotiations can commence. We have not, alas, got that far yet, but I am optimistic that we will have taken a positive step forward by the time we meet for the EU-Russia Summit in May, and we will put the issue of ‘better regulation’ on the European Council agenda; here, too, I would ask for your House’s support in order to ensure that we do not become bogged down in vague assurances, but that we commit ourselves to quantitative reduction objectives.
I am aware of the concerns and the fears that less regulation may also entail less protection. That is not what we want, but there is room for improvement in the way in which we organise bureaucracy today, and I would add that, from the perspective of Europe's citizens, improvements are needed on that front. That does not mean that a regulation is not valid if we do not use the most complicated form to verify it.
Mr President, our consultations in connection with the declaration on the Europe of the future on 24 and 25 March are going well. We intend that they should continue to do so. In your comments you emphasised very clearly what people expect from the European Union with regard to its external relations and its security and defence policy, and I share your commitment to human rights, of which your House has a great tradition, and I am pleased to note your desire to make dialogue between cultures one of your priorities. During my recent trip to the Middle East I was made aware of the great expectations which people have placed in the European Union and all its institutions. One can, in the Middle East, almost physically feel the yearning for peace and the concern about Iran's nuclear programme. In this area we have a great responsibility to do everything we can – with the players in the region as well as the United States of America and Russia, of course – to set in motion the peace process which people await with such longing.
I have said before, and will say again, that the end of the Cold War brought something unexpected into the lives of Europeans such as ourselves. We have seen that today, now with twenty-seven Member States, we can again work and contend for peace and freedom in a democratic process with almost all European countries, even though it is not always easy. This, the wonder of our age, should encourage us to strive for miracles and opportunities in other regions of the world.
That which Palestinians and Israelis have not experienced for decades – a life in peace, a life in two neighbouring countries which are not at war, a life with the prospect of prosperity – must also be our goal, because we have simply seen firsthand that peace and friendship can emerge from seemingly insurmountable differences. This experience brings with it an obligation for us as Europeans to become involved in this process. That is why I am very grateful that you, together with all your colleagues in the European Parliament, have set this as one of your priorities.
Mr President, you quoted Mr Helmut Kohl and said that we must hurry and cannot afford to constantly focus on ourselves. For people in the European Union expect us to continue to shape this successful continent successfully in the age of globalisation in the interests of its citizens. Millions, indeed billions, of people in the world expect the European Union, with its experience and prosperity, to do its part in enabling the world to enjoy more peace and more freedom. Let us work together to that end. Thank you for your speech; I look forward to good cooperation with your House.
The development of this Parliament is one of the European Union’s success stories, and we now know that without the work of the European Parliament, much of what we have achieved for Europe's citizens would have taken another form. I would like to call to mind, from recent history, the work on the chemicals legislation REACH, the elaboration of the services directive and the debates on the financial perspective, in which we constantly strove to set forward-looking priorities and managed to push them through, in tough negotiations with the Council and the Commission in some cases.
In your speech today, you drew our attention to the next European Parliament elections in 2009. We will face the citizens of Europe together – we as representatives of the nation states and you as representatives of the European Parliament – and will have to give an account to almost 500 million people of what concerns us, in what way this Europe of ours benefits them and why it matters. It has to do with peacekeeping, with solidarity within the European Union and with prosperity and social security in a global world in which competition has become much tougher for all of us. It is for this reason that we must not lose sight of the whole picture in the midst of all the specific routine parliamentary work. With your work programme you have emphasised the role which you envisage for the European Parliament as well as for the European Union in the world.
We agree that the issue of the constitutional treaty will be the crucial issue for the 2009 elections – both in connection with our self-perception and our relationship to our citizens, and, secondly, also in terms of a 27-member European Union's capacity for action. It is for that reason that the German EU Presidency, together with the Commission, Parliament and the Member States, will do everything in its power to set a timetable for completing this project so that people in 2009 know what kind of Europe they are voting for and how this Europe will be able to act in future.
My plea is that we should continue our discussion on how we can further clarify the structure of the respective relations between the Commission, Parliament and the Council, even though it still sparks controversy in some areas. For that reason too, as I mentioned in my opening speech, I have put the issue of discontinuity on the agenda, because I believe this topic will be important in the longer term. How does a newly elected Parliament – or, for that matter, a newly-elected Commission – perceive itself? What has to be achieved, and how? Even the Constitutional Treaty does not fully answer these questions, and that is why I believe the debate must go on.
Turning to the problems of substance, it is clear that the subject of energy will play a quite central role at the Spring Council on 8 and 9 March. I would like, today, to tell you about our efforts to organise this Council meeting, but not before expressing my sincere thanks to the Commission, which has given us ambitious packages of directives and findings on energy and climate protection for the agenda. In the upcoming councils to prepare for the Spring Council – the Competition Council and the Environment Council – we now have to establish the decisive conditions for a fruitful debate within the Council. I support the goal of the Commission to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020 as long as we find international partners. I believe that our international travels give us all encouragement to draw attention to the fact that Europe generates 15% of CO2 emissions, while 85% are generated outside the European Union. Europe must be a pioneer – a goal to which I think we should commit ourselves – but Europe must also make clear that no problem illustrates more visibly than this one how this world interacts and that the action of one continent is not sufficient to dispel the threat posed to the whole of humanity."@en1
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