Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-28-Speech-3-096"
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"en.20070328.14.3-096"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, although the European Union does not have the foreign policy powers that many of us would like it to have, our debate today on Kosovo has greater political significance than it would in other circumstances, mainly because the discussion and the adoption of the Lagendijk report is taking place at a moment in politics when matters are still fluid, when events are evolving week by week and when individual participants can still influence events. I believe, therefore, that it would be very useful for the European Parliament to make a clear statement tomorrow – and the European Union the day after tomorrow, so to speak. If possible, it should do so with a large majority tomorrow in Parliament and, possibly, unanimously in Council a few weeks from now.
I find it interesting that the assessments we have heard so far from Mr Lagendijk, the Council and the Commission are largely along similar lines. I think that is a very important prerequisite. I would like to briefly refer to five points. Firstly: the future of the Balkans and of Kosovo is a future in Europe. The first clear step that we can take to bring a bit of peace to those areas is to ensure a positive target for all – for Serbia and for Kosovo – namely, membership of the European Union. This is an objective that suits them but that also suits us very well, particularly with a view to transforming an area that will otherwise be unstable into an area of permanent peace, economic growth and multi-ethnic democracy.
Secondly: we need to escape the institutional limbo that arose after 1999, and that is why we should support the report by Martti Ahtisaari and the position – which we hope will be unanimous – to be adopted by the Europeans within the United Nations Security Council.
Thirdly: independence is the final result which the entire population of Kosovo would like to see and to which the Lagendijk report also refers, partly as a result of the amendments which we have tabled. Perhaps historians will tell us that it was an error not to provide for alternative options. Today, however, this is a reality, and one that the leaders of Serbia are also well aware of. They need to be politically reassured and not humiliated. It is necessary to realise that, on the symbolic level, Serbia has never given up Kosovo but at the same time, on the factual level, Kosovo has for years been outside the orbit of Serbian influence.
Finally, the European Parliament must endorse – and I say again, unanimously – the Ahtisaari plan, in the hope that the same will occur in the next few weeks within the Council.
Madam President, a final remark: the debate on the European Parliament’s budget, which we will have in a few weeks, must provide consistency between what we say on the political level and the financial instruments we adopt to help Kosovo towards the final result."@en1
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