Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-274"
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"en.20071113.31.2-274"2
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"Madam President, from the period of reflection we learnt that there is a clear demand and opportunity for measures to reinforce and expand the political dialogue. I have always said that if we want to create a European public sphere, then we also need to create more of a European political culture, and this particular issue is absolutely crucial to doing so.
Certainly, there is no single magic solution to bridge the gap between European politics and our citizens and there is no simple way to meet the democratic aspirations of citizens and their desire to be more actively involved. These aspirations must be promoted by a very wide range of initiatives with common purposes to ensure the broadest possible participation of citizens, including, not least, young people, and, I would add women, in the democratic life of the Union.
The activities of European political parties, together with the creation of European political foundations, is part and parcel of building this real European public sphere, where different opinions can challenge each other and the citizens can better understand the challenges at stake and make informed choices. Political debate and political controversy are part of democracy and we hope that this will also help to increase the turnout for the European Parliament elections.
I am happy to say that the Commission and Parliament have always agreed on this issue. The Commission was able to respond quickly to Parliament’s request and our proposal was also strongly supported by Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
On 25 October, I stated before this House my concerns that Coreper had decide to follow a route which departed from that of the Commission and Parliament, and these concerns were shared by Members, including President Pöttering and Mr Leinen. But I also expressed my hope that the key objective of the Council, Parliament and the Commission would continue to be the same: the approval of the substance of our proposal before the end of this year.
Three weeks later, and having heard what the Presidency stated, I can only welcome the recent developments and express my satisfaction that we are on a common route again. The Council has been listening and the working group last Friday unanimously confirmed the full substance of our proposal. This means that we can now move on. But, even though the agreement reached in Council is an important step forward and very positive news, this is not yet the end of the process. We need to finalise the details in order to allow for a speedy adoption and entry into force of this regulation.
Even if the splitting of our proposal does not ultimately affect its substance, it entails a separate, more complicated legislative procedure and an opinion from the Court of Auditors, which, I hope, will be delivered in time. The schedule is very challenging and tight.
I would like to thank Mr Leinen for his committed work on this file, and all the other Members involved. I also want to thank President Pöttering, the Conference of Presidents and the political groups, who played an important role in preparing the ground for an agreement on this issue. So, Madam President, President of the Council, Mr Leinen
We can move forward together."@en1
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