Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-16-Speech-3-017"
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"en.20080116.2.3-017"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, we are quite sentimental about Europe and what it has achieved as a model of peace and democracy and what it might achieve in terms of boosting people’s freedom and well-being and representing a centre of innovation and consistency in tackling global environmental challenges.
We are therefore delighted to welcome you here today, but we are a little sad that this experience might in some ways be a unique one, because, as you know, one of the reforms of the Lisbon Treaty is the election of the President of the European Council. This is something that is of concern to us, partly because none of the candidates who have been put forward would in my opinion be able to advance the cause of Europe very far.
Having said that, however, I would like to mention some specific points that are especially relevant for the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. As the President of the Commission mentioned, during your Presidency the ‘energy package’ is to be presented: this is the result of the work done by all last year and we know that there is a widespread commotion about it and manoeuvring and pressures are already in progress to diminish its value and impact. We believe that a fundamental aspect of your Presidency will be to resist these pressures from both major and minor players to restrict and weaken the impact of these regulations.
We will also continue our battle on principle, on which I believe that we will be in disagreement. In our view, a low carbon economy – here I am also addressing the President of the Commission – cannot be a nuclear economy; funding and wasting time on a new nuclear future which does not exist yet or on expensive technologies of uncertain application such as carbon sequestration and storage are actually in direct competition with the true renewable energies which we should encourage and fund: sun and wind energy, and energy saving, this latter being the most promising prospect for innovation and employment.
Another important issue during your Presidency will be coordinating territorial and urban development, which will be highly important in view of the Spring Summit and which make reference to the follow-up to the Leipzig Charter: safeguarding the quality of our cities and the enhancement of territorial cohesion are perhaps less in fashion than other issues, but we believe them to be absolutely crucial in the battle against climate change.
Waste legislation will also probably be completed during your Presidency. We are extremely concerned, not only by what is happening in my country, in Naples, but also because it seems to us that the lip service paid to the hierarchy of waste strategies, placing a priority on prevention and re-use, is actually contradicted by the text of this legislation, which once again gives priority to incinerators, which, in our view, are definitely not the only way of solving the waste problem.
There are two important issues relating to trade and data protection on which we would really like to see whether your Presidency will truly be a friend to this institution or not. You will have to battle hard with some of your colleagues on the issue of Parliament’s assent to the economic partnership agreements with the ACP countries, which, following the strong disagreements with the African countries that emerged in Lisbon, we view as more vital than ever. Then there is freedom of access to negotiating documents on the partnership and cooperation agreements with countries such as China. Just think – the European Parliament has not yet been told anything at all about how these negotiations are going. Everything is being done in total secrecy! We believe that there ought to be an open debate on this issue and that this Parliament should at least be informed about what is going on.
Finally, President-in-Office, I would like to mention the data protection issue. We know that the Council is planning to take a decision on this during your Presidency, but we would ask you to be courageous and request that implementation of this framework decision be postponed until after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, because this would enable Parliament to play a direct part in the reform; my fellow Member will speak to you about this again later on, I ask you, President-in-Office, to hold the first national conference on the Roma people during your Presidency. This would make a significant contribution to intercultural dialogue."@en1
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