Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-18-Speech-2-114-000"
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"en.20110118.6.2-114-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, these are my last words on behalf of the Belgian Presidency, so I will be brief. I am delighted to see so many people here, but I know that has to do with other items on your agenda.
I would like to let Mr Staes know that, while the Golden Shoe Prize, which will be awarded in Belgium tomorrow, has always gone to people like Lukaku and Boussoufa, if it was the Belgian Presidency which was being honoured, the Golden Shoe would easily go to its diplomatic service, some of whose staff are seated here behind me.
Finally, let me address a few words to Mr Tabajdi, and I will try to use my best Hungarian:
Ladies and gentlemen, I, of course, wish to thank all those of you who provided very constructive feedback, which will prove invaluable in your and our work in the future. Let me, first and foremost, say, with regard to the European Parliament’s very positive evaluation of our Presidency, that I try to stick to the principle of being serene in the face of negative feedback and of being very modest in the face of positive feedback, even if it proves to be exaggerated.
By way of conclusion, I would like to highlight three elements. First of all – and this obviously goes beyond the remit of our Belgian Presidency – I think it is really important that we institute best practice as regards the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon. Every nation state which takes on the six-month rotating Presidency of the European Union should keep Europe particularly high on its agenda.
Secondly, the purpose of managing the rotating Presidency is, perhaps not just acting as facilitator, but also as a driving force, as one of you said, so that our institutions can do their work. We all fought hard for the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. It would be absurd, of course, if we managed the rotating Presidency in such a way that it failed to do justice to the letter and spirit of the Treaty of Lisbon. Moreover, I think that that is the only way in which the rotating Presidency will make sense in the future and any future Treaty amendments or new agreements will survive. Thirdly: not everything is perfect and several members have rightly pointed to some gaps. I would like to reiterate, in particular, that Europe ought to be more ambitious when it comes to social policy.
What has been said is indeed correct. At the level of social policy, the Union must be more ambitious in the future, but I nonetheless believe that Belgium played its part. The Belgian Presidency strengthened the role of employment policies in the Europe 2020 strategy, it ensured that these policies would have a place in the new economic governance of Europe, and I believe that it also created the foundations for the social dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy, not only the fight against poverty, but also social cohesion. In response to some of the speeches, it seems to me that we have nevertheless put the issue of services of general interest on the European agenda. However, it is true that we need to do more and to move forward, especially at legislative level.
As I said earlier, our Presidency is not perfect and I think that, as Mr Tavares rightly pointed out, we can do more than we are doing today at the level of refugee policy.
By way of conclusion, I will make two final remarks, as there are other items remaining on the agenda. I would emphatically like to address the Belgian members of the European Parliament in general, but several of them in particular, especially two of my predecessors.
On behalf of the Belgian Government, I would like to say that we consider the efforts we put in during the Belgian Presidency as a kind of salute to your work here. We have done all that we could, ladies and gentlemen, to apply the Treaty of Lisbon correctly, which is also a kind of salute to the initiatives developed since the eleventh Presidency, which oversaw the emergence of the Treaty of Laeken, and later, under important rapporteurships, with a view to implementing the spirit of Laeken in the Treaty of Lisbon.
It has rightly been pointed out that a rotating Presidency primarily relies on the commitment and achievement of a great many people around the politicians who have to take responsibility and stand in the firing line. I am talking about the advisers, the diplomats, about a great many people who are ultimately the ones doing the most important work."@en1
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