Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-18-Speech-2-088-000"
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"en.20110118.6.2-088-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Leterme, when you presented the programme of the Belgian Presidency last July, I said to you, in welcoming you and in jest, that you would perhaps still be there in January to present the outcome to us. I have to say that I had hoped I would be wrong and, without wishing to offend you, Prime Minster, like all Belgians, I would have liked to have before me today the Head of Government duly elected at the ballot box on 13 June. However, you were the one who had to take on this Presidency, and I congratulate you and all the ministers of the present government.
Now, let us leave aside the internal political situation to focus on the outcome of the Belgian Presidency.
I, too, would like to quote a famous American, who was not a philosopher but a tennis player. Arthur Ashe said, ‘One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation’. And it has to be recognised, without doubt, that the Belgian Presidency drew inspiration from this.
In respect of the issues I am dealing with here alone, I have seen a great deal of progress: closer cooperation in divorce matters; the European protection order for the victims of violence; future enhanced cooperation for patents, and the agreement on the Late Payment Directive and on the labelling of foodstuffs are all successes that the Belgian Presidency can take pride in.
The same is true of the common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2013. Though there is as yet no agreement, the principle of a strong CAP with two pillars and the principle of simplification have already been accepted. What agriculture is most in need of in the future, however, is regulation that manages to contain the volatility of the markets within certain limits. Yet there is still no agreement on this and I have grave concerns in respect of future presidencies, notably Hungary and Poland, since regulation does not seem to be one of their priorities.
Apart from good preparation, the full involvement of ministers, the effectiveness of diplomats and of Belgian officers, the secret of the Presidency, which you have emphasised, was not to impose its own agenda but to commit itself to current priority issues, at European level, and to make every effort to move them forward, thanks to the pragmatism and the culture of compromise that characterise us.
I hope that future presidencies will learn from this example."@en1
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