Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-24-Speech-2-014"
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"en.20080624.3.2-014"2
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"Mr President, I would like to congratulate the President-in-Office, Prime Minister Janša, and the whole team in the Slovenian Presidency for the fantastic job that they have done over the last six months. I also want to pay tribute to all the members of the Slovenian Permanent Representation and backroom staff who have operated so effectively here at European Union level over the last six months. In particular – returning to something I mentioned after our first Conference of Presidents visit to Ljubljana in December – a wonderful image of the country has been presented by the liaison officers operating with us and by the other Council representatives in Ljubljana over the last six months. What a fantastic advertisement it is for a country to have such vibrant, intelligent and visionary young people representing it on the world stage.
Be that as it may, and despite all the plaudits that will be given to the Slovenian Presidency, many will try and claim the credit for themselves. Now is the time for Slovenia to be jealous and protect its image, what it has achieved and what it has done, because, as is always said, victory has many fathers but defeat has few believers.
We have seen – with the difficulties that have arisen in Ireland concerning the referendum, and in other countries with regard to the ongoing ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty – a cry from the people as regards what they want to see and need, from the European Union institutions. So unfortunately, contrary to what Martin Schulz was saying, it is not as simple as dealing directly with the problems that many people are encountering today owing to high fuel prices, the pressures on them with regard to inflation, and decreasing wages in certain sectors.
In the past week, fishermen in Ireland and around Europe have been devastated by the price of fuel. And yet there is a growing demand within the European Union for fish. At the same time as having the globally-created problem of the price of fuel, we also have the European institutions and European regulations saying that fish which are caught and which are a viable food commodity have to be thrown overboard and discarded simply because they are not part of a quota. Trying to tell people that this is a positive policy towards the conservation of fishing stocks is inexplicable.
Be that as it may, the many successes of the Slovenian Presidency can, in my opinion, be condensed into three or four key areas. First of all, there is the Western Balkans, which presented problems before the Presidency, but for which solutions are now being put in place. The Slovenian Presidency may not get full credit for what it has achieved through quiet diplomacy and its actions and leadership in that area.
Secondly, with regard to unblocking many issues at a European Council level, and in particular the directive on temporary workers and temporary agency workers, we have been trying to find solutions to all these problems for 14 years, and now they have been delivered.
Thirdly, there is the whole question of Cuba and Zimbabwe. These are two very different issues, but ones of a global nature that we have to respond to. It is amazing that yesterday 85 people died in Zimbabwe, with the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who we all believed had won the first round of the elections, having to claim asylum and protection within the Dutch Embassy. For the first time in many years, the UN Security Council adopted a unanimous decision condemning Mugabe’s actions. These are things that we have to push further and bring conclusion and finality to.
Finally, I would say to the President-in-Office, and to all the ministers in his government, that this may seem like the end of the game but, as he will discover on 2 July, it is in fact just the beginning of a new game and one that may require even more diplomacy and greater tact from Slovenia and the European Union in the future.
Thank you, President-in-Office, for all your efforts and time, and in particular thank you to Minister Lenarčič for coming to this Parliament so often and being so pleasant with all of us."@en1
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