Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-20-Speech-3-122"
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"Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, the crisis. What our citizens expect from us politicians, above all, is to overcome the crisis: to fight poverty and social exclusion, and especially so this year. The crisis did not start in Europe, but it is here, in Europe, that it has to be overcome. This House has demanded ambitious reforms from the European Commission and the Council. Above all, however, we have adopted key financial reforms such as the Financial Supervision Package, regulations limiting bankers’ bonuses and concerning requirements for the capital held by the banks. In doing so, we have laid the foundations of the walls which will protect our citizens from future crises.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have just finished voting on the European External Action Service. Soon – and this I deeply believe – it will become our great strength and create our European potential. We negotiated firmly with the Council to make this a modern Service which represents the Union point of view and the common interests of Europe. However, we must acknowledge that all parties were very open to compromise, and so our congratulations must be mutual. All of us took part in the discussions.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us stay with foreign affairs for the time being, and let me go back over what we have done this year: we rejected the SWIFT agreement. This was an exceptionally important moment. The US Government has seen that the post-Lisbon Parliament means business. In future, not only the USA, but the governments of many other countries will find this out. When future historians come to evaluate this vote, they will say that we did the right thing in the interests of our citizens. We struck a balance between security and the protection of personal freedom. This is important because, as MEPs, we represent our citizens.
Fifth: human rights. They are a priority for our Parliament, and they are mine, too. I always raise this issue wherever necessary. I know that 735 defenders of human rights stand behind me, and that behind them are 500 million citizens. In Russia, I asked President Medvedev about the murders of human rights activists and journalists such as Anna Politkovskaya and Sergey Magnitsky. When Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Prize, I repeated my appeal for his immediate and unconditional release. Tomorrow, we will decide who will be awarded the Sakharov Prize this year. I am resolved to use the Sakharov Network of Sakharov prize winners, as well as the forum of former presidents of the European Parliament, as an effective tool in our struggle for human dignity, human rights and democracy throughout the world. Human rights activists can be certain that their fate matters to us. They matter to us! The European Parliament is a place where people matter.
Sixth: Women’s rights. I have repeatedly called for more women to be elected to the highest EU positions. I have had overwhelming support from all Members of this House. I also supported the initiative to introduce quotas on electoral lists. A political system which cannot ensure proper representation for 52% of its population in decision-making bodies loses contact with society. Europe must be united in a coalition for work and, at the same time, family life. It is important, particularly at times of economic crisis, that maternity does not become victim to insecure working practices. We have just held a debate on this issue, and it is also related to overcoming the demographic crisis in Europe. As I confirmed 15 minutes ago, I decisively support any such action in this House, although the Chamber is possibly not the best place for such action.
Aristotle said that excess and defect are characteristic of vice, and the mean of virtue. We must ensure the equal participation of men and women in public life. Let us follow in Aristotle’s footsteps.
Seventh: institutional reform. Since I was aware of the importance of the Treaty of Lisbon, I was in Ireland, as were many of you, convincing the Irish people to endorse the treaty. I was also with President Klaus in the Czech Republic, calling for its ratification. We worked hard to bring the treaty into force, and we succeeded.
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the most important changes has been to strengthen the legislative power of our Parliament. We now have new rights, but also new responsibilities. The treaty, in strengthening Parliament’s role, still allows us to take many decisions using the intergovernmental method. For this reason, we still need to promote the Community method as an effective tool for citizen scrutiny. Yet let us remember that the decisions on the direction the European Union is to take still depend largely on the Member States, on Heads of Government, presidents and chancellors. The possibility of cooperation with a view to strengthening the European institutions which have given Europe strength in the past is very important, and I am convinced that this will happen in future, too.
As President of the European Parliament, I have put all my energy into strengthening the position of our House with regard to other European institutions on the basis of the Treaty of Lisbon. I did this because we represent the citizens and we are directly elected by them, so we also owe them full representation before the European institutions.
We have made substantial progress towards increasing the answerability of the Commission to this House. We have also introduced changes in the way Parliament itself operates. For the first time, we will have a monthly question-and-answer session with the President of the European Commission, the first debate on the state of the Union has already taken place, we have regular meetings of the Conference of Committee Chairs and the College of Commissioners, and I also hold meetings with the Commission and the College of Commissioners.
We have initiated dialogue with the Council Presidency on legislative planning. I regularly meet the Head of the Government in charge of the rotating Presidency. For the first time, the President of the European Council has not just appeared at a plenary session, but also met with the Conference of Committee Chairs immediately after the European Council. Finally, and I consider this to be extremely important, we are building a close partnership with the national parliaments. I would like to thank, as we all would, the national parliaments for their willing cooperation. We will now be jointly responsible for legislation at European level. It is our common responsibility for the future of Europe.
We must do more, however: we need to integrate our European markets better, because that is what will guarantee economic growth and lower prices. Professor Monti’s report must become law. It is worth noting that important parts of the report came from your initiatives – the initiatives of Members of the European Parliament and our committees.
Eighth, and this is my final point, the budget – our most important task for the future. It is our duty to make sure that the 2011 budget contributes to economic growth. The budget’s structure determines the list of political priorities. We must take great care that it contains the money promised to our citizens. The ‘cuts’ must not be dictated by empty populism. They must not deprive our citizens in fields such as education, training, scientific research or infrastructure projects. We must always ask questions about the financial repercussions of less expenditure at European level. Will the financial repercussions mean less Europe?
Our late fellow Member, Egon Klepsch, a former President of this House, when discussing Parliament’s first vote on the budget, said that Parliament was defining the European ‘public interest’, which, he said, was the real test. We now face just such a test, all of us, today.
I shall now proceed to the conclusion.
When I represented this House before the European Council, I said that we must be honest with people about the need to tighten our belts in this difficult time, the need to work longer and retire later. That is the only way we will be able to maintain Europe’s prosperity. It is a long-term programme of structural reforms, which cannot be achieved from one day to the next. This will help us to implement the Europe 2020 strategy and to secure competitiveness and jobs, which are the most important things for our citizens. Recovering from the crisis and proceeding to long-term development are our most urgent tasks.
Second, solidarity. The crisis has shown how important European solidarity is. I have been to the places which have been particularly hard hit – Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Greece. I gave messages of solidarity, but also stressed that there is no solidarity without responsibility. We have managed to head off the crisis to a large extent. We have saved the patient, but now we have to make sure he can leave hospital on his own two feet. What we need, therefore, as I said earlier, is a long-term strategy for getting out of the crisis. We also need proper economic management. We need structural, social and educational change. At times of crisis, we have to show realism, but also sensitivity.
Third, energy policy and climate change. Energy is a major commodity in the economy. Energy and climate protection are some of our main priorities, and key political drivers for other economic initiatives. Energy security, coupled with environmental protection and electricity that is as cheap as possible, has become the main challenge of the 21st century, as we are all well aware. That is why, on 5 May 2010, together with Jacques Delors, we announced the Declaration on the creation of a European Energy Community. We would like that name, ‘European Energy Community’, to become a hallmark of all EU enterprises operating in this field. I repeat: the Commission, Parliament and the Council have already done a lot of work in this area, and work is ongoing on these topical issues, but it is also important to give an additional stimulus and provide these activities with an ‘umbrella’ which will allow them to be put into effect properly. I am pleased that today, I will be signing a new regulation on the security of gas supplies which we have adopted together.
Much work still needs to be done before the energy market becomes a single common market. I will continue working on this with you. The most important thing is for our activities in the field of energy also to protect the climate. We are leaders in this field, and want to remain the leaders. We, as the European Parliament, have signed an agreement on the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), thereby creating a ‘green parliament’ which will save energy and start using alternative sources of energy.
Fourth: external affairs. As MEPs, we are ambassadors of democracy and contribute to the organisation of free and fair elections as part of our mission. Not a week goes by without one of us promoting our fundamental values alongside our business interests. We are the world’s largest economy and the greatest donor of aid, but we are not making full use of our strengths. We need to revise the way in which we achieve our aims, and we have to incorporate support for democracy and human rights in our trade negotiations. We should not apply double standards, regardless of whether our negotiating partners are large and powerful or small and weak.
My role as President is to strengthen our common voice and to communicate our citizens’ views beyond the borders of the EU. We have thus strengthened our parliamentary diplomacy. I have represented you at the G8 parliamentary meetings. I have made official visits to China and the USA. Our relations with the US Congress, where we have a representative office, have improved in quality. I was the first President of Parliament to visit Russia in 12 years.
Thanks to our common efforts, we have set up a Secretariat for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean and are successfully cooperating with Latin America through EUROLAT. However, we should admit that we still have a lot of work to do before we get parliamentary cooperation under way in EURONEST, which is part of the Eastern Partnership."@en1
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