Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-039"
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Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the Lisbon Summit was a summit of a united Europe of solidarity. The EU has emerged from a period of six years of discussing institutional issues and from the divisions caused by those debates. We have reached agreement on the Lisbon Treaty.
In 2007, critics said that Member States would never agree on a mandate. Then they said that a mandate from the June European Council would never be respected.
On my way to Lisbon last week I was still hearing some critics saying that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to reach an agreement and that delegations had even booked hotels until Sunday morning – maybe expecting to benefit from the very nice weather in Lisbon and Portugal.
The fact is that 27 Member States reached a consensus, respected the mandate and agreed on a Treaty – and all of this on the Thursday night, after dinner.
The success of Lisbon tells us that the European Union is, indeed, tougher than it looks, with a strong ability to recover from setbacks. I am proud to say that the European Union today is alive and delivering.
The Commission is happy with the results of the IGC. The two non-negotiable conditions set by the Commission were fully respected. On the one hand, the Lisbon Treaty has clearly advanced from the current status quo. I always said that the Commission could not accept a solution less ambitious than the Nice Treaty. In fact we wanted as much progress as possible.
On the other hand, we fought hard to keep the competence of the Commission intact, and to keep the Community method at the centre of the European Union. There were, let us be honest, certain attempts to reduce and to weaken the competence of the Commission. Let me be clear, there is no European integration without strong European Institutions, and I believe this treaty will reinforce the European Institutions, not weaken them, because if you want the European Union to have an increased capacity to act, you need strong, effective, democratic and accountable European Institutions.
The Treaty of Lisbon will reinforce the democratic nature of the European Union. First, thanks to the efforts of the European Parliament, there is now a clear definition of what European citizenship means.
Second, the Reform Treaty also gives legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which will be a central part of the system of checks and balances in our Union of Law. Together with President Pöttering and Prime Minister Socrates, we will proclaim the Charter in the European Parliament before the signature of the Reform Treaty. The solemn dignity of the Charter will thus be properly recognised here in Strasbourg.
Third, the European Parliament will have a greater role in the legislative process of the Union.
The fourth democratic advance introduced by the reformed Treaty regards the rights of national parliaments, which will reinforce the principles of accountability and subsidiarity.
First of all I would like to pay a sincere tribute to the work of the Portuguese Presidency, and especially to the determined leadership of Prime Minister José Sócrates. I would also like to extend these compliments to all of his team, whose skill and dedication I witnessed almost on a daily basis. It is also right to acknowledge the remarkable work of the German Presidency, especially of Chancellor Angela Merkel when she succeeded in defining a mandate, a clear and precise mandate that was the basis for the Intergovernmental Conference. However, it is also true that without the determination and competence of the Portuguese Presidency we would not now be celebrating the fact that we have transformed a mandate into a Treaty.
However, the central feature of the democratic nature of the Union remains the European Parliament. One of the things I most enjoy when I am in Strasbourg is to listen to the many political leaders and political figures from all over the world addressing this plenary on their aspirations for democracy, and their strong beliefs in freedom and individual rights. That really is one of the vocations of the European Parliament – to be the House for the voices of freedom in this world. It is something that should make all Europeans proud. When you hear those voices, you also realise what we have achieved in Europe, because once we also had people in European cities, marching for the same democratic rights. We should be very proud to live on a continent where, thanks to the European Union, we can enjoy fundamental rights, and we will say that together when we approve the Reform Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The European Union faces many challenges, both internal and external. Our citizens want results. The Treaty of Lisbon will turn a new page in our ability to deliver, and will reinforce our capacity to act. In particular, the Treaty will introduce substantial advances in the area of justice and home affairs.
The Reform Treaty will also reinforce the European Union’s cohesion in external affairs. I personally attached the highest importance to one of the most important innovations in this Treaty, which is, precisely, the creation of a High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy who will at the same time be Vice-President of the Commission.
This is a great opportunity for the European Union to act in a coherent and united manner in the world. Our internal prosperity, our freedom and our security depend on the capacity of the European Union to act decisively at the global level.
With the Reform Treaty, Europe will have the conditions and instruments to shape globalisation and not to hide from globalisation. We should not miss this opportunity.
I know that some committed Europeans are not happy with the number of opt-outs. The Commission and I would obviously have preferred to avoid those opt-outs and specific arrangements. However, diversity is a central feature of the European Union, and sometimes it requires political and institutional compromises. I would prefer to have specific opt-outs for specific countries than to be forced to lower the overall level of ambition of our Treaty and our Europe.
The crucial point is that despite our diversity, we remain united regarding fundamental goals, fundamental values and fundamental principles. We have many tasks ahead: economic reform, growth and jobs, the reinforcement of social cohesion, our focus on innovation, our proposals on energy and climate change, and our programme for justice, freedom and security. We need to keep proving that we are not engaged in institutional navel-gazing and show that we are dealing with the real issues facing Europe.
A great signal also came from the social partners on the very day of the beginning of our summit, when the social partners at European level agreed on an analysis of the labour market in Europe, and in general terms welcomed the concept of flexicurity. This showed that the social partners also want to work with us in this proactive attitude towards globalisation.
Regarding Lisbon, we also made progress on the second day of our summit. We discussed the great issue for the European Union in the 21st century, which is to promote the European interest in the age of globalisation.
Our discussion was the natural complement to concluding the Reform Treaty. The message was clear: after concluding the negotiations on the Institutions, let us put those discussions behind us and face the real issues that are of most concern to our citizens, where they want to see us delivering concrete results.
Allow me to say that it is of special significance that the Treaty will be signed on 13 December in Lisbon at the Jeronimo Monastery, precisely where the Treaty of Accession of Portugal to the European Community was signed. Twenty years after Portugal’s accession to the European Community, Portugal seems to be repaying Europe for everything it has done for Portugal by helping Europe to overcome this impasse.
We had a very positive debate. The paper presented by the Commission, based on the concept of the European interest, was fully endorsed, and the decision was taken to work on a declaration on globalisation for the December European Council, to show that tackling globalisation is a common thread in much of the European Union’s work today.
The Heads of State and Government welcomed the concept of the fifth freedom: freedom of circulation of researchers and ideas, which is a cornerstone of our response to globalisation. That is particularly important, as we are engaged in crucial debates about Galileo and preparing to implement the European Institute of Technology.
I truly welcome the spirit in which that debate was held. It was clear that we now need to reinforce the external dimension of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. It was clear that, without further commitment from the Member States on issues regarding education, innovation, research and technology, we would not succeed. I think it is also fair to say that all Member States recognise the need for a European-level approach and that we need more action at European level if we really want to succeed in the age of globalisation.
This Commission has argued all along that institutional reform is important, but that we also need delivery of results, side-by-side. As the Commission said in 2005 and 2006, that twin-track approach was the way out of the institutional stalemate.
In Lisbon we achieved the strategic objective: we agreed on a Reform Treaty. Now it is crucially important to achieve a further goal, which is the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty before the European elections in 2009. I believe there is, indeed, a new political confidence in Europe. The last polls demonstrate the highest support for the European Union since 1994. The political climate is right to move ahead.
The IGC and the Lisbon Informal Council demonstrated that, when European Institutions and Member States cooperate, we are able to solve what seem to be even the most complicated and most challenging problems. It is my wish that the spirit of Lisbon which brought us a consensus on the EU Treaty will inspire the European Union in the year to come towards a successful ratification process. We need it for a strong European Union that delivers results for its citizens.
Prime Minister, Portugal has every reason to feel proud of its work, of the work of the Portuguese Presidency in concluding the Treaty of Lisbon.
Let me also salute the European Parliament for its commitment during the IGC. Throughout this process the European Parliament showed a strong political will to resolve the institutional issue, being determined to reinforce European democracy.
I wish in particular to pay tribute to the role of President Pöttering and the delegation of the European Parliament – Mr Brok, Mr Barón Crespo and Mr Duff – and to thank them for the constructive relationship they had with the Commission. This was, indeed, exemplary cooperation, and I think we both made a contribution to very important advances in the new Treaty, namely the issues of citizenship.
The Treaty of Lisbon is the first Treaty of the enlarged Union. It is the first time in the history of European integration that states which were once divided by a totalitarian curtain together negotiated and reached agreement on a common European Treaty.
It is appropriate that we all remember today the importance of the Berlin Declaration, which celebrated not only the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome but also the emergence of a free and re-united Europe.
Let me recall today some of the predictions we have heard during the last two years. In 2005, after the two negative referenda, we heard some people saying that the European Union of 25 or 27 would never agree on a Treaty, whatever its content. There were far too many different national interests to allow the Union to reach a consensus, some sceptics said."@en1
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