Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-18-Speech-2-059"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20071218.5.2-059"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I will begin by saying that this has been a Presidency in the service of Europe and a pro-European project. It has not been a Presidency to please everyone, but a Presidency for dividing the waters, receiving the praise of those who are in favour of Europe, but also suffering the protests of those who are against Europe. We are proud of that, too. Those who boo the speakers, those who try to disrupt the exercise of democracy in parliaments, need not apologise, because we have actually proclaimed here the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which enshrines tolerance as a fundamental European value, and tolerance even of those who do not understand the democratic spirit and behaviour.
Next, ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to say that I do not share the often puerile and infantile vision of those who believe that there is an absolutely fundamental separation between foreign and domestic politics. In my country the Portuguese Presidency is taken very seriously and all our Prime Ministers, myself included, have had the good sense to regard its work as crucial and a priority whenever the Portuguese Presidency has come round, because the European project is also an internal political issue for Portugal, not just about foreigners and Europe. No, it concerns us, the Portuguese. This is why the Prime Ministers have always given a priority commitment to European action and the European agenda, because we are well aware that, in European affairs, we defend our interests through the European project.
Do you know what? I also belong to a party, and fortunately a country, where we follow Churchill’s rule: we never criticise or attack our own government abroad. We save it until we get home; then we make up for lost time when the government is in a position to defend itself. It is more loyal; that is how we behave in Portugal; that is the dignified way in which Portuguese tradition and the Portuguese political culture behaves when it has the EU Presidency.
Next I would like to emphasise one important reason why I believe we have made progress this past year. We have made progress, if we look at Europe at the beginning of the year and we look at Europe at the end of this year, we will see that we have made progress, and we have made progress too in relation to the programme jointly defined by the three Presidencies, and that helped. This coordination between the three Presidencies, duly linked to the Commission’s programme, helped Europe and I believe that it is my duty to give you my own experience; I believe that this helped me a lot and helped to coordinate with the previous Presidency. I have always said of the Lisbon Treaty that it owed much to the previous Presidency, Angela Merkel’s Presidency and her leadership to obtain a mandate, without which we would not have had the Treaty.
Someone asked ‘Why Brazil?’ That is an easy one. For the same reason that we have a strategic partnership with China, India and Russia, and not having one with Brazil is a mistake, because nothing is achieved in the world – I am just stating the politically obvious – nothing is achieved in the world in the environment, or in trade, without Brazil. Brazil today is a new international partner of major and vital importance and that is why I judge that the EU’s external policy is better, more coherent and more comprehensive with a partnership with Brazil.
Next, perseverance at the Africa summit; someone mentioned that, perseverance. That is it, we persevered. I remember well, a year and a half ago when we talked about the Africa summit, no one really believed we could pull it off. Everyone pointed to the difficulties and obstacles, but we persevered because we always felt that we were right, that it would be a mistake not to do it, and we always felt that there was a will to do it on both sides and we were right. That is another reason why the summit was a success.
In the end, this Presidency moved Europe forward, that is what I wanted to say. However, we only moved forward; it is not the end of the story. No, we are far from the end of the story. Just a small step; I am well aware of the scale of it; I am well aware that politics is a ceaseless effort, and as one task is completed there will be another one to be done. I am aware, too, that on migration we need to make progress with the ‘blue card’; I am well aware that we need to go further on flexicurity; I am well aware that there is much to be done, but we did move forward in all those areas. We did not move backwards; we did not stand still; we moved forward. After all, the European project over the past 50 years has consisted of nothing but small but firm steps forward. That is why I am telling you this, because I am firmly convinced that with the Portuguese Presidency we moved forward and made progress and what we did was for the good of the European project; nothing else, the European project, as I said, because we were always guided by the interests of our own country, which are defended through the European project. A country that wants to share its sovereignty with the others and wants to take part in this extraordinary adventure which is to see 27 countries share their sovereignty in areas that 20 years ago were regarded as areas of national security. Sharing that sovereignty is giving an example to the world of cooperation for peace, for development, and this is the European adventure. I just feel honoured to have made a small contribution to that and I would just like to leave you with the pride that the Portuguese feel for that. My country has always been pro-European. The Portuguese are very pro-European; they believe in Europe and, like me and many of you, they were also frustrated that Europe had been dragging its feet for three years. They wanted to overcome the deadlock; they wanted to move ahead. We have moved ahead and what is more we did so with a treaty that is named after our capital. I also wanted to tell you how proud and honoured my country feels to have had the opportunity to serve Europe over the past six months. Thank you very much."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples