Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-065"
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"en.20070314.4.3-065"2
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"Mr President, the summit represents another step forwards in the building of Europe. To avoid becoming over-confident, however, let us take a more critical look at the
in selected areas. The 3% GDP for science in the Lisbon Strategy, although an improvement, will not be enough to put us on a par with the USA. There is still a long way to go before Europe’s intellectual potential is put to its full use.
Regarding energy policy, the target of meeting 20% of our needs using renewable sources, and resorting to mining including coal mining, should not blind us to our current energy problems. The annex speaks of a common European policy coordinating the Member States. The latter should not, however, act to the detriment of European cohesion as we have recently observed them doing.
The current situation regarding gas supplies from Russia – the gas crises in Belarus and Ukraine –is a further test of our energy policy and security as a whole, and we should regard it as an object lesson, and not just a glitch that will go away. Russia’s challenge is not an easy one, but Europe can avoid being the fall-guy provided that it speaks with one voice, which is rarely the case. Hopefully this summit will change things.
The Commission’s recent actions on protecting the environment in the Rospuda River Valley, when no such vote took place concerning building a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, shows how selective, how non-cohesive and inconsistent these actions are. There are floods of tears when a rose dries out or when our forests burn, while strategic events are passed over in silence and we focus instead on niceties.
Finally I would like to mention Europe’s greatest weakness, namely the continuing lack of solidarity at government and national level. This is a matter not so much of formal provisions, as of recognising our common fate rooted in tradition, particularly Christian tradition, and based on common aims, which need to be constantly defined. At the moment, the energy issue is a test of European solidarity, and this solidarity will energise Europe’s future development."@en1
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