Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20071212.2.3-015"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have a wonderful gathering here. The President-in-Office and the Council have been diligent, and the summary they delivered here was marvellous. What exactly they were summarising escaped me, but the headings were certainly right.
The head manager of the Commission emphasised to us that the Commission has taken up the challenges of globalisation. He said ‘globalisation’ 87 times and ‘challenges’ 82 times, so it must be true.
And so to the wedding that Martin was so keen to describe. It is indeed an interesting state of affairs, for the bridegroom is marrying the same bride for a second time. That is unusual, even for the weddings you frequent, Martin. The only thing is that the bride is now a little older, a little more old-fashioned and less sexy than she was in Rome. But this wedding is necessary. Today we are all invited. Because I am attending today and was not there the last time, it will go well. That makes all the difference.
Before I say something on two important problems, let me refer to the surreal performance of the British Prime Minister in Lisbon. He had discovered that a subcommittee of a committee of a subcommission was meeting in the House of Commons, and so he could not be present at the signing of the thing he did not want to sign but intended to sign nevertheless, but then later, at the meal, he signed it after all. It was surreal, but that is Britain today. It is your problem, not mine!
Now, however, I would like to address two serious matters. The first is Kosovo. There is an old Jewish joke which says that, if you have two options, always choose the third. We have two options. If we do not recognise Kosovo’s independence, we shall have a conflict on our hands. If we do recognise it, we shall have a conflict on our hands. Both options lead to conflict, whether with Kosovo or Serbia. We in the European Union must now be resolute in showing how we can act, not just how we can talk. We must develop an Agenda 2020 with a view to bolstering the rule of law in that region, and that agenda must be developed together with Kosovo, with Serbia and with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We must reinforce the rule of law throughout that region. We must develop an environment and climate pact. We must devise a regional development plan with components such as trans-Balkan route networks, giving the region the prospect of accelerated convergence with the European Union with the aim of simultaneous integration of all these countries into the European Union. The only means we have of preventing conflict is to ensure here that these countries are not only offered the European bonding agent but help to develop it too. Then we shall see whether the 27 will be able not only to wed their brides but also to bring difficult children into the family so that peace can finally advance in that region. I am actually talking about the wedding night now.
The second point is just as critical, namely Iran. The Council will have to take a decision there too. In this case we can say that the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb has apparently subsided, if we can believe the US intelligence service. We are all like little children, always believing what we want to believe. If people tell us something that does not suit us, we say they are lying. It they tell us something that suits us, we say they are right. I do not know who is right, but it would suit me if they were right this time.
In Iran, however, the possibility of a nuclear bomb is not the only problem. There is also the problem of freedom or, more precisely, the suppression of freedom. The past few years have seen an incredible upsurge in the oppression of people in Iran. I believe Europe also has a job to do there. It is not just about averting the threat of a nuclear bomb. It is also about the freedom of people in Iran and about how we help civil society to win that freedom.
There are heads of government who think they are clever because they give wise advice and do great and clever things for Europe. Those who believe, however, that they can sell nuclear reactors in all parts of the world, whether to Libya – a terrorist dictatorship – or to Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco, only to discover at some later date that these nations all want a nuclear bomb, are being hypocritical. Yesterday’s
wrote something that we have all been saying for the last 30 years, namely that anyone who uses nuclear power for civilian purposes will ultimately use it for military purposes too if there is no alternative. And we sell nuclear reactors to all African, American and other countries and think we are clever. We are stupid to do such a thing, That needs to be said."@en1
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