Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-26-Speech-3-220"
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I will be as brief as possible, but this debate involved many contributions and various questions have been raised. As you will certainly understand, Mr President, some of these questions must receive my full attention and a response. Of course, during this debate, the Members of this House have expressed many points of view, not all of them uniform. They all of course deserve my full respect, even though I cannot agree with all of them. In particular I cannot agree with the speech made by one Member from my country who, in her speech, referred exclusively to the situation in Portugal. I cannot of course subscribe to this speech in any respect. However, despite these differences of opinion, I am sure that we are all agreed on the essential point, which is that we are engaged in a war against terrorism in the name of freedom and that we can only win this war in freedom.
As I said at the start of my speech, the fight against international terrorism can only be won through a joint effort and with respect for the values and fundamental principles shared by the European Union and the United States of America.
It is true that the Council was urged to act but, as I said and as previous presidencies have also said, the Council in itself does not have any competence in this area. You may lament this but that is the truth of the matter. Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaties have been invoked here today. As you know, these articles lay down principles and establish values but they do not assign competence. The institutions, in accordance with the so-called ‘principle of conferral of competences’, can only exercise those competences which have been effectively, clearly and expressly assigned to them by the Treaties. This is how the institutions of the Union function. However, the Commission has presented here today a series of proposals and initiatives, some of which have already been implemented and others which will be implemented and which naturally will merit the Council’s full attention and effort. The Commission’s proposals will of course be welcomed by the Council.
Furthermore, I should also like to say that numerous initiatives have been taken by the Member States, mainly through their parliaments, with investigations being conducted in line with the recommendations made by the European Parliament’s report. In this respect, with specific reference to what is happening in Portugal, I am here today representing the Portuguese Government, a government created by the Socialist Party, a party which in Portugal was famed for and exemplary in the fight for democracy and freedom in our country. Of course neither the Government nor the Socialist Party agreed, agrees or will agree with violations of human rights. As I have said to you, the efforts and initiatives to discover the truth of the matter are welcome. It is therefore essential to be rigorous and the basis for a rigorous analysis is not to allow any confusion or to accept mere supposition as fact.
As regards the transatlantic relations which have been mentioned, the Council reiterates that, in general, in the fight against terrorism, generalised internal security measures, not limited to one Member State of the European Union, can only be put into practice in the framework of very strict cooperation with the US. This cooperation must of course be developed, as noted, from the statement made at the last transatlantic summit that took place during the German Presidency."@en1
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