Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-21-Speech-3-078"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your questions and comments. We often talk about a citizens’ Europe, the people’s Europe, and then we interpret this to suit our own political purposes. There is actually nothing wrong with this, but if we ask the citizens ‘what do you want from Europe?’, then the citizens of all the European States say ‘we want cooperation in Europe that is based on a number of values and that solves our common problems – the economic crisis, unemployment, the climate issues, international crime, the migration problem and so on’.
The same applies with regard to the 18 extra MEPs. As soon as the Treaty is in place, we will begin preparations for this. A number of States have already made preparations in order to be able to send the Members in question here quickly. Mr Audy, the national voting system is a bit more complicated in some States. It may, therefore, take some time. I hope that the preparations get underway as soon as possible. I am very pleased that the European Parliament has allowed these Members to be observers while they are waiting to formally become MEPs. Together with the forthcoming Spanish Presidency, we will do our best to ensure that this goes as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks, not only for this debate, but also for the extremely strong support that this House is giving the Presidency with regard to the issue of the climate. We will do our utmost to make it possible to take decisions on European funding at the European Council meeting, based both on the European contribution and on our contribution in relation to the developing countries, thereby allowing us to send out a strong signal and to give the international negotiations a boost to make them as successful as possible in Copenhagen. It is the most serious and important task facing our generation to take appropriate, concrete steps to combat global warming and put in place a global regulation. I am very grateful for the support and commitment that the European Parliament is showing in this regard.
That is what we are here to do. Many of these issues will be discussed at the summit in ten days’ time. Of course, we will not succeed in solving all of them, but hopefully, we will be able to take some important steps in the right direction and thereby create more of a ‘citizens’ Europe’. We must take these decisions in a way that is democratic, open and allows transparency.
We may each have different views on the Treaty of Lisbon. The view held by the Swedish Presidency and the Council and, I believe, the majority in this Chamber, is that the Treaty of Lisbon will bring Europe closer to the citizens. We will take decisions in a more efficient and democratic way and we will also lend increased strength and weight to the European Union in our global relations. It is therefore important to get the Treaty in place and I can guarantee that we will do our utmost to ensure that this happens as soon as possible.
There is still no solution with regard to the Czech President. I have heard that there is some speculation here, but nevertheless there is still no solution. We are in intensive talks with our friends in Prague and we hope very, very soon to be able to present to you a proposal for resolving this issue. I would like to point out that we must, of course, await the ruling of the Czech constitutional court before we can go any further.
In the meantime, preparations will continue with regard to codecision with Parliament and to the European External Action Service, which we will discuss this afternoon. I will return to many of the views that have been expressed and other questions relating to the Treaty of Lisbon. We have had very constructive cooperation with your President, Mr Buzek, and his colleagues concerning how Parliament, the Council and the Commission can cooperate once the new rules are in place.
A few questions have been asked about Afghanistan. Yes, Mrs de Sarnez, we hope to be able to make progress in discussions on a more unified European view with regard to Afghanistan, based both on the military presence that the European Union has there and on increased support for civil society and the democratic, state-building processes. Intensive discussions are being held right now on how we can support the election that is to take place on 7 November. That is very soon. It is difficult to put European election observers in place in such a short space of time, but we will, of course, do our best to achieve this.
The European Union’s long-term goal, which we support, is to have a common asylum and migration policy. We will not manage this by the end of the year, partly because we need the Treaty of Lisbon to enter into force first. However, I do agree with you that it is important. In the meantime, we are working on the Stockholm Programme and one of the things we are discussing in this connection is migration-related issues. They are very complex issues, of course, and concern cooperation with third countries, trade, aid and the possibility of introducing a framework so that we can also have legal immigration into Europe. They also concern solidarity and reception systems. The Commission will report on the progress that has been made in this regard. We will then take further decisions in December.
Mr van Baalen, the issue of the Ankara Protocol is important. We often say to our Turkish friends that they must ratify and implement the Ankara Protocol. This issue will not be discussed at this summit, but we will discuss enlargement later in the autumn, with a possible decision being taken in December. Therefore, I will certainly return to this issue again.
With regard to the number of commissioners, the European Council has, of course, decided that each State is to have one commissioner. Under the present Treaty, it would be possible to change this in 2014. As soon as the Treaty is in place, we will have time to review any legal adjustments that may be required to guarantee that every State can retain its commissioner, and we will do this. We are in talks with the various legal bodies to see whether further amendments to the Treaty will be necessary or whether it is sufficient for the European Council to decide this unanimously."@en1
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