Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-18-Speech-3-076"
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"en.20090218.20.3-076"2
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"Mr President, it is not true of the Council, but we here in Parliament and, as a result, also the Commission, are edging towards the finishing straight for this electoral term. For that reason, I think it makes sense that we should act not merely as the accounts clerk checking the balance sheet of the European security and defence policy’s progress, but in a much more fundamental capacity.
I must admit that I am absolutely torn between two ways of looking at this. I tear my hair out when we have to deal with the day-to-day necessities, when a mission is threatening to fail for want of six helicopters, when there is no political will in the various capitals or when there are splits on technology projects.
When I look at things from a historical perspective, however, everything looks different, and Mr Solana, in fact, deserves a great deal of praise in this regard. The European security and defence policy has only been in existence for around ten years, we should remember, and the document on the security strategy was only produced in 2003. On that basis, the progress made is really quite great, from a historical point of view. As a historical optimist, I choose the latter point of view in case of doubt.
The second point that I, as a social democrat, would like to address, relates to something for which neither the European Union nor NATO is responsible, but which affects us all as Europeans. It relates to developments in connection with the missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. We, as social democrats, are very pleased to hear that things that we have put forward are now being implemented in connection with changes in the United States.
We have always said that it does not make sense to rush the decision on the stationing of equipment, as there is not, at this time, any threat from, for example, Iran. Hillary Clinton said last week that further decisions at the US end will be taken in the context of what happens in Iran. Joe Biden has said that it is dependent on technical capabilities and financial considerations. These are things that we welcome. We will, at least, not be the last doomed brigade left fluttering the flag of this missile defence system."@en1
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