Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-043"
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"en.20071212.2.3-043"2
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"Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I should just like to refer briefly in my closing statement to an issue which has been raised several times and which is of the utmost importance, which is naturally on the European Union’s external agenda and will most probably continue to be a priority in the coming weeks and months. I refer to the question of Kosovo. I should like to explain briefly the Portuguese Presidency’s position on this vital issue.
Finally, Mr President, I hope you will forgive and I am sure you will understand if I end on a personal note: this is the last time I shall attend a debate in the European Parliament as the representative of the Portuguese Presidency. This is therefore a farewell and a farewell that cannot pass without an expression of recognition and gratitude for the support I have always received in this House from the President and from all the Members. I have learned with you and I have learned through you how important this Parliament is in strengthening democracy in our Union and also, naturally, in strengthening the legality of the decisions that we take here with a view, obviously, to creating a freer and more prosperous Union for the citizens of Europe.
So thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I should also, naturally, like to thank the Commissioners and the members of their staff, and the President of the Commission, who often participated with me in these debates and with whom I was able to establish much common ground in our work, objectives and efforts. Thank you, Commission.
I should also, I am sure they will understand, like to thank the officials of the European Parliament and especially, if they will forgive me, my compatriots who work here. Finally, and I hope I have not forgotten anyone, I should like to thank my interpreters, the Portuguese interpreters, of whom I am very proud. I will end with the English expression: "I will miss you all" or, in Portuguese: “Já sinto saudades”. Thank you very much.
In our view it was most important, after the Ahtisaari plan was presented to the Security Council, for the European Union, Russia and the United States to form a Troika in order to seek, again in very close contact with the parties, possible solutions on which the parties could agree. There were two main objectives, the objective of trying to explore certain aspects of the Ahtisaari plan that could and should be explored. On the other hand, we are sure, we and the European Union, that we have done all that we could to make it possible for an agreed solution to be reached on the future of Kosovo. We had 120 days to do it.
We now know, and it is a matter of public knowledge on which the Troika too has reported, that it proved impossible for the parties to agree on the future status of Kosovo, but all is not lost. In the first place, we must record the excellent climate, the excellent atmosphere between the parties to the Troika and in the relations between the Troika and the parties. In the second place, as we hoped and expected, it was possible to explore some of the aspects highlighted in the Ahtisaari report and new points of agreement naturally emerged on that basis. In the third place, a most important aspect and one which has perhaps not received due attention is the fact that the parties agreed not to resort to violent solutions to settle the question of the future status of Kosovo. We attach great importance to this political commitment and we only hope, naturally, that it will be respected.
The process has been referred to the United Nations again and will be debated again in the Security Council. The United Nations, let us not forget, has a fundamental role in this matter. But if it proves impossible at United Nations level for the members of the Security Council to agree on a solution that will determine the future status of Kosovo, we have no doubt that the international community and the European Union in particular will itself have to take decisions which we all know will be complex and perhaps difficult ones.
Three observations in this connection are of fundamental concern to the Portuguese Presidency and will be of fundamental concern to Portugal as a Member State of the European Union after 1 January. Naturally, the first concern is to preserve the unity of the Member States. In our view, it is essential that when we are called upon to decide and if we take a decision it must be a joint decision. We must present a united front. In our view, this is absolutely essential. What we would not like or wish to see, what we would do everything possible to avoid, is for Europe to be divided on the question of Kosovo as it has been in the past on so many international situations, difficult international issues carrying great responsibilities. Unity must therefore be our watchword.
Secondly, the European Union must assume its responsibilities because Kosovo is above all a European problem, our problem, and while it is clear that we rely on all our international partners in seeking a solution to this question too, Europe cannot turn its back on Kosovo, it must fully assume its responsibilities for a European problem and, at the conclusion of the Presidency, I consider that the European Union is perfectly aware of this fact and perfectly aware that it has a leading role to play in this matter.
Thirdly, we must not be precipitate, we must consider carefully the consequences of any decisions we may take, we must naturally seek a consensus if possible in all circumstances and in all situations, and we must also naturally take a clear position on this question and convey that position in a very transparent and very obvious form to all partners who are also involved in the question of Kosovo in any way.
Finally, any solution to the question of the future status of Kosovo must always and in all circumstances respect the values and principles that are fundamental to the European Union: peace and regional stability of course and also, obviously, respect for the law, respect for democracy, respect for human rights.
There is no other frame of reference for the solution to the problem of Kosovo and we must not, under any circumstances, forget that the European Union offered the countries of the Western Balkans and Serbia in particular firm and unequivocal European prospects, and we must work with the parties to that end also. The parties must know that their natural vocation is to be in Europe. Let us hope that the European Union, in solving the difficult question of Kosovo – and, let us have no illusions, this is a complex and a difficult question – we have no alternative, as I say, that the European Union, in all circumstances and despite any differences there may be on particular issues, must maintain its unity. This is fundamental and essential to the credibility of the European Union and its external actions. That, in brief, is what I wanted to say to you about Kosovo."@en1
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