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Mr President, honourable Members, allow me first to congratulate you on the election of your new president. I am looking forward to working with Jerzy Buzek during the Swedish Presidency – and of course also in the time thereafter.
A few years later, in 1997, after Sweden had joined the Union, I was involved in putting together the PPE Group’s youth organisation, Youth of EPP, and I myself became its first chairman. It enabled me to see how European cooperation worked in practice. Together we sought European solutions to European problems. We got to know not only each other, but also each other’s history and culture. It enabled me to get to know the capital cities of Europe – and I can hardly count the number of churches I visited in Europe in the process.
In 20 years Sweden has gone from observing at a distance to being an active part of the European cooperation. This has in turn had an effect on the Swedish population. Ten years ago, one in three Swedes thought EU membership was good for the country, but just as many thought the opposite. Today that has reversed. Nearly two in three Swedes believe that EU membership is good for Sweden. In the elections to the European Parliament in June, more that 45 per cent of Swedes turned out to vote. That is eight per cent more than in 2004, and it is above the average for Europe. Today Sweden is a country that appreciates and takes a positive view of EU membership. We woke up to it a bit late, but we have worked hard to catch up. That is a victory for all of us who believe in European cooperation.
Mr President, honourable Members, we are facing the question of the fate of our generation – a social problem which, unlike many others, is growing slowly – and only in the wrong direction. Our planet has a fever. Its temperature is rising – and it is up to us to react. The Greenland icecap is shrinking by more than 100 cubic kilometres every year. The icecap in the Western Antarctic is melting at an increasingly fast rate. We know that the shrinking Greenland ice alone could result in an increase in sea levels of up to two metres. The effects will be dramatic. If the sea level were to rise by just one metre around the world, a hundred million people would be forced to leave their homes in Asia alone. The most vulnerable are those in Bangladesh, eastern China and Vietnam.
There would also be other serious consequences, however. The weather will change, with the risk that many species of flora and fauna could become extinct. This is the case even if we stay within the 2 °C target set by the UN, which was backed last week both by the G8 and by the Major Economies Forum in L’Aquila. Our climate is under threat from both our use of and our dependence on fossil fuels. That is the bad news. So what is the good news?
Although time is short, it is still on our side. We must act now, however. We already have everything in place to expand renewable energy and the technology to improve energy efficiency. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), more than half of the measures required in order not to exceed the 2 °C target can be taken using the technology we already have.
Moreover, measures to counter climate change have very useful side effects – effects which in themselves justify the measures. If we consume less energy, we will save money. We will improve public finances while at the same time households will have greater resources. If we invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we will improve our energy security. We will be less dependent on imports from countries that are sometimes both politically and economically unstable. Our investments in the green economy will create new job opportunities and drive growth in the decades ahead.
Allow me to give a specific example. In January, many EU countries were affected by the gas crisis in Ukraine. Last week I spoke to President Yushchenko concerning how we can try to avoid a similar thing happening again. At the same time, it is important to be able to turn the viewpoint around. If Ukraine invested in energy efficiency so that the country reached the same level as the Czech Republic or Slovenia, the amount of energy saved would correspond to the entire country’s gas imports for its own use from Russia. Ukraine could then become completely independent of gas imports from Russia and save a great deal of money besides – simply by improving its own energy efficiency. This is where we must seek the answers where the climate is concerned.
Twelve years ago a coalition of the willing was formed in Kyoto. However, voluntary agreements are not enough. If we are to succeed in getting an international agreement on climate change in place, then the journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen must move from being a coalition of the willing to being everyone’s responsibility.
It is an honour for me to address the European Parliament as President-in-Office of the European Council. I know that approaching half of you have been elected to this assembly for the first time. Collectively, you all give a voice to 500 million Europeans. There are great expectations of you.
So how do we get there? Europe must act together and collectively. We must show leadership and keep our promises. Europe is crucial to getting others to join an international agreement. All over the world we must set a price on emissions. We must start using national carbon taxes and emissions trading. The environmentally friendly alternatives will then emerge. If the price of using fossil fuels is set without regard to climate impact, global warming will continue. The alternatives will not emerge. Measures to increase energy efficiency will not become economically worthwhile.
That is not enough, however. We need to have a wider answer to the question of ‘how?’. It is not enough to limit emissions in a group of countries that voluntarily agree to reductions, but which together account for just 30 per cent of emissions. Neither is it sufficient to have solutions that are based only on restrictions in the most developed countries. Even if the so-called Annex I countries were to reduce their emissions to zero, the rapidly growing emissions of the developing countries would still take us above the 2 °C target.
That is why we must discuss the financing of investments in the developing countries. We need to ensure rapid technology transfer and we need to make sure that the developing countries also make commitments to check the development for which they are currently heading. In addition, we will need clear commitments in the medium term for countries outside Europe too. The responsibility of the few must now become the responsibility of all.
I know that the European Parliament will accept its responsibility. The Swedish Presidency sees you as our allies. We now want to write the story of how the climate threat was averted, and we want to write it together with you.
Mr President, honourable Members, the economic and financial crisis spread like wildfire around the world within the space of a few weeks. Some people had given warnings, but for most people it came as a surprise – particularly its extent and depth. In a global world, problems also spread quickly to others. The force of the downturn is such that nobody has a miracle cure for getting out of it quickly. Coordinated action on the part of the EU is the best tool we have to meet the challenges of the crisis. Moreover, there is still much that can go wrong. In the circumstances, the EU has succeeded in showing leadership through these testing times. We agreed on guarantees and rules of the road for supporting the banks. We agreed on a common recovery plan to stimulate the economy.
President Sarkozy and the French Presidency played an important part in this work, but I would also assert that the European Parliament was a driving force. Now we need to devote the autumn to discussing continued measures to take us through the crisis. The economic situation remains difficult, and public finances are now stretched in all the Member States.
According to the Commission’s forecasts, the deficit within the EU will exceed 80 per cent of GDP next year. We cannot close our eyes and pretend that it is not a problem. In the middle of all this we must not forget either that behind these figures are people who are concerned about their jobs and who are wondering how they will manage to pay for their homes and to maintain their standard of living. It is our task to answer them.
When millions of Europeans lose their jobs and become excluded, our entire welfare comes under threat, and this at a time when our welfare is already under great pressure. We are living longer, while at the same time we are working less and having fewer children. If this trend continues, in 50 years’ time there will be twice as many older people as children in Europe. So what can we do?
We must restore confidence in the financial markets. We must quickly get effective supervision in place to prevent similar crises occurring in the future. The Swedish Presidency will work towards agreement on this in the Council by the end of the year. We are hoping for your help in achieving this quickly and conclusively. Our citizens will not accept the repeated use of tax revenues to rescue financial institutions that have acted irresponsibly.
We must rapidly get ourselves out of the growing public deficits through a coordinated exit strategy and a gradual return to the rules of the Stability Pact. Otherwise, short-term imbalances will be followed by chronic deficits. Large cuts await us, as are already a reality in parts of the EU; and we have previous experience of this in Sweden. Mass unemployment, social unrest and growing tax pressure then await us.
I am addressing you during a challenging period. Rarely has the EU cooperation faced harsher tests and tests so varied in nature. In the short term we aim to ensure a smooth transition to a new treaty – the Treaty of Lisbon. Now and in the slightly longer term, we must continue to manage the economic and financial crisis. Under the surface is the threat of a growing climate crisis which, in the long term, is the greatest challenge we face.
We must ensure a social dimension to European policy that is based on healthy public finances and on getting more people into the labour market. This is by far the best way to safeguard our welfare system. I know that this is an important matter not least here in the European Parliament.
It is unsustainable for three out of 10 Europeans of working age to be excluded from the labour market. Our aim must be an active labour market policy that, together with well-functioning social security systems, is able to manage change effectively. We must strengthen the individual’s employability and ability to assert him- or herself in the labour market. In addition, we must activate and reactivate the unemployed. With more people in work there will be more support available for those who are not. We must also concentrate on reforms, modernisation and adaptation to a new reality. The world outside the EU is not standing still. It is moving forward at a tremendous rate. That is something we should acknowledge and accept.
A review of the EU’s Lisbon strategy could contribute to a necessary reform agenda. We will initiate this discussion in the autumn.
In the wake of the economic crisis we can see ideas of increased protectionism. The WTO confirms that the number of trade-restricting measures has increased considerably in the past three months. Consequently, I welcome the L’Aquila agreement on restarting the Doha round – in order to ensure that the countries of the world again take the free trade-friendly path that we know benefits us all in the long run. The objective must be an EU that comes out of this crisis stronger.
Mr President, honourable Members, when I travel around Sweden and talk about EU cooperation, I get few questions about the institutions of the EU. The questions instead tend to concern curved cucumbers, snuff and other everyday matters.
Nonetheless, the institutional framework is important because it defines what we can do and in which areas. That is why the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon is so central. The Treaty will make the EU more democratic, more transparent, more effective and more influential in the international arena. Most important of all, however, is the fact that having the Treaty of Lisbon in place will close the chapter on an inward-looking phase of EU cooperation. It is now time for the EU to look outwards and forwards. The Swedish Presidency is prepared to carry out all the preparatory work to ensure a smooth transition to a new Treaty, but naturally that requires the Treaty to have been ratified by all the Member States. Let us hope that that becomes a reality in the months ahead.
International criminality is growing ever stronger. Criminal networks no longer see their activities bounded by national borders. We can see how the drugs trade and human trafficking are spreading. This is a threat to our democratic values and a threat to our citizens. At the same time, the freedom to move freely across borders is fundamental to our community – to study, work and live in another EU country. New times call for new answers, however. Consequently, this autumn we will draw up a new programme in this area that we will call the Stockholm Programme. The Stockholm Programme will sharpen the instruments that create security in the EU and that fight organised crime and terrorism.
At the same time, we will create a better balance between these instruments and the measures that ensure legal certainty and that protect the rights of individuals. It will also ensure that those seeking asylum in the EU face a common, legally certain system – with greater consistency in the way they are received and the way their case for asylum is examined and greater consistency as regards repatriation policy.
The dream of a future in Europe is a strong one for many people. At the same time, the population of Europe is getting older and older. A flexible system for labour immigration could bring together these two realities.
Mr President, honourable Members, just over 50 years ago six countries laid the foundation for European cooperation. There are now 27 of us. We have grown in strength and influence, and we have grown in prosperity and diversity. Europe has been enriched. As a result, we are also better equipped both to exploit the opportunities presented by globalisation and to meet its challenges. Together we are strong.
One thing is clear. If the Swedish Presidency is to succeed in the many challenges facing it, we must work alongside you – you who work at the heart of European democracy. We hope for your support and cooperation, and that you are prepared to take on the challenges together with us.
We talk of membership ‘negotiations’. In the final event, however, membership is about sharing common values and following common rules. This is currently being pondered on by those that remain outside – from Reykjavik to Ankara via the western Balkans. The two leaders on Cyprus are facing a historical opportunity to agree a solution that will reunite the island that has been divided for far too long.
For those inside, there is a temptation to allow the membership process to become an opportunity to resolve long drawn out disputes. In such cases we must find solutions that benefit both sides and open up the way ahead. Otherwise we jeopardise our progress towards our aim of continued European integration. The Swedish Presidency will work to advance the enlargement process in accordance with the commitments made by the EU, and strictly on the basis of the applicable criteria. We will act as an ‘honest broker’.
Mr President, honourable Members, with strength and influence comes an international responsibility that we are still striving to shoulder. It is accompanied by a duty to use this responsibility in everyone’s best interest. The EU must work for peace, freedom, democracy and human rights. We have a responsibility to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries of the world, a responsibility to live up to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. We also have a responsibility to support the work of the UN in other areas, to work together with our strategic partners, to become involved in the world’s crisis hotspots – whether it is the peace process in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea or the great challenges on the African continent.
However, we also have a responsibility for regional initiatives such as the Mediterranean Union and the eastern partnership that are creating stability and cooperation between neighbouring countries with different circumstances.
I am particularly grateful for the European Parliament’s driving role where the Baltic Sea cooperation is concerned. Parliament presented a draft strategy for the region back in 2005. We now hope that this initiative can be crowned with the adoption of a Baltic Sea Strategy at the European Council meeting in October.
The conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s became the starting point for the EU’s involvement as crisis manager – an involvement that is now continually growing. Today the EU is involved in 10 or so crisis initiatives around the world.
These days the world’s problems come knocking on the EU’s door. All around our world – and not least in the areas closest to us – many people’s hope for their own development is linked to our cooperation. Let us together meet their expectations.
Mr President, honourable Members, as a result of European cooperation, today our continent lives in peace and prosperity, in freedom and stability. We have open borders and a social model that combines a market economy with consideration for each other. This is our shared Europe. Our citizens also want to know, however, that Europe is borne by ideas for the future and that our cooperation not only has a historical purpose but is also forward-looking. That is why we, as their elected representatives, have a responsibility to say what we want to do with Europe. Let me tell you how I see the Europe of the future.
I want to see a Europe that acts forcefully for democracy, peace, freedom and human rights in the international arena and which dares to act on the foreign policy stage. For there are those among us with experience of what it is like to live without democracy and freedom, which gives us the credibility to act.
When we talk of the history of the EU, we tend to maintain that the cooperation has created a foundation for peace in a Europe that has so often been characterised by the opposite. I would like to tell you that my grandfather was a Swedish soldier posted to the Norwegian border during the Second World War – a war in which Sweden was neutral. The nearest my grandfather got to the war was to occasionally get a glimpse of it – from a safe distance. For a long time, that was Sweden’s relationship with Europe: observing from a distance.
I want to see a Europe that takes the lead in the fight against climate threats, which resists the temptation to compete on the basis of an industry that does not pay for the emissions that are destroying our climate and which provides incentives that make green technology worthwhile, so that our children and our children’s children get to experience nature as we know it.
I want to see a Europe that takes responsibility for the economy. ‘Lending for spending’ cannot be the only motto. Neither can it be the case that ‘profits are private and losses national’. Let us build up our public finances again, regulate sound financial markets, and secure the economic reforms that we need for growth and for industry that will continue to be competitive in the future.
I want to see a Europe that develops its social model further, a Europe that combines a well-functioning welfare system with growth – with social cohesion, a Europe that through work, enterprise and healthy public finances creates room to maintain and develop our welfare models, in the best interests of all our citizens.
I want to see a Europe that does not allow itself to be lured by the short-term crusades of protectionism, a Europe that safeguards the internal market that formed the basis of our EU cooperation and that allows goods and services to flow freely across our borders, for the benefit of ourselves and of the rest of the world.
I want to see a Europe that is humbled by inequalities, that is open to the arguments of others and that has a strong will to find compromises, all to serve the common interest. Such a Europe will be strong whatever the times.
Mr President, honourable Members, it is an honour for me to stand here with you and represent European democracy. Many people have said to me that this will be the most difficult presidency for many years. There are many challenges, and we must prepare for the unexpected. Many ask whether a country the size of Sweden can shoulder this responsibility. Not alone – but together we can face these challenges. Let us do so with vision and drive, with initiative and courage. Europe needs it. The people of Europe need it. The European project is about the dream of solving people’s problems together. This dream makes Europe strong. This year, 2009, is a fateful year for European cooperation. We have the chance to take the next step. The Swedish Presidency is ready to take on the challenge. Let us take it on together!
While Europe was left in ruins after the Second World War, Sweden was untouched. We were richer economically – but poor in terms of European community. Twenty years ago the barbed wire between Austria and Hungary was cut. The Berlin Wall came down, and Europe changed almost overnight. A number of countries then set out on the journey that resulted in representatives of 27 countries sitting in this room today. Sweden was one of these countries.
If you are a late starter, you need time to catch up. In the late 1980s political commitment for Europe began to mature in Sweden. Slowly the realisation of Sweden’s closeness to and dependence on Europe grew. Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt played a decisive role in the work on bringing Sweden into the European community – in other words, accepting openness, globalisation and free trade. He was driven by a firm conviction that Sweden belonged in Europe.
Eighteen years ago we made our application for membership of the European Union. We had finally matured in our conviction that people’s lives and our future could best be served by cooperation and community with others, that we had something to contribute – and that we had much to learn. We were no longer afraid of cooperating. We dared to be part of Europe.
These years from the mid-1980s onwards, which were revolutionary for Sweden, ran in parallel with a deepening of my own political commitment. I had a strong yearning for Europe, as did many of my generation of Swedish politicians. I remember how as a young, newly elected member of the Swedish parliament I was invited to visit the European Parliament. It was a sign of Parliament’s openness and accessibility – despite the fact that at that time Sweden was not a member of the Union."@en1
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