Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-013-000"
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"en.20110705.5.2-013-000"2
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"Mr President, President of the Council, President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council has shown how the rotating Presidency has continued to play an important role in our decision-making system. We have to recognise the importance of the advances that have been made in these last few months on a number of fronts. Firstly, there are the advances on the economic front, with the progress that has been made on governance and the success of the first-ever European Semester. Secondly, there is the common policy front, with the measures taken concerning social cohesion, the common agricultural policy, food security, the single market, the Danube strategy and, of course, energy policy. Thirdly, there is the external front, with the accession of Croatia, but also the expression of our solidarity with our Japanese friends and with the peoples of the Mediterranean.
I thank the Hungarian Presidency and wish all the best to the Polish Presidency.
Let me inform you, Mr Orbán, of the position of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) on most of these points. First, I want to thank the Hungarian Presidency. In particular I would thank the Minister of State for EU Affairs, our former fellow Member Mrs Győri, for the enormous efforts she has made towards taking the governance package forward and, in particular, granting Parliament’s requests for the Community method to be applied.
We have been successful on 90% to 95% of our requests. I am very disappointed that, because of the stance some people have taken, we cannot reach a conclusion this week as planned. Without economic governance, ladies and gentlemen, there will be no stability for the euro. Without a stable euro, the chances of Europe winning the battle for growth, and thus the battle for employment and social cohesion, are next to nothing. The PPE Group is convinced of this.
President of the Council, I also want to emphasise the progress that has been made on common policies since January. There has been progress on the cohesion policy, with the agreement reached in February on the strengthening of this device in the coming years. There has also been progress on the common agricultural policy, with the agreement reached in March on the broad outlines of the reform, against a background of worrying increases in the prices of raw materials as well as ever greater challenges in relation to food security. Thirdly, there has been progress on energy and innovation, strategic themes to which an entire meeting of the European Council was devoted at the start of February, one month before the Fukushima tragedy. Finally, there has been progress on the single market, which will be consolidated further thanks to the Single Market Act.
On all these major topics, the Hungarian Presidency has made progress in spite of a difficult political and economic environment. I would add one important element to that, namely the policy on the Roma, on which you, Mr Orbán, have been able to conciliate the Europeans and propose specific actions. I am particularly grateful to you for that.
I will end by mentioning the advances made in the area of external affairs. I have already had the opportunity to welcome the progress made by Croatia during the last few months; it is only because of this that the 27 were able to give it the green light for its accession in accordance with the timetable that President Orbán wished for, starting in January.
This accession is good news for the Croatian people. It is also good news for the peoples of the Balkans, who must be able to rely on a concrete European perspective.
The events that have occurred in the Mediterranean, too, have dominated the Presidency to a great extent. Europe has managed to give a clear demonstration of moral solidarity, but has also shown real solidarity with its southern neighbours, and it has also managed to resolve the problems that arose concerning the economic refugees who immigrated to the Italian coast.
At the same time – and I am particularly happy about this – the Schengen area has been opened up to Romania and Bulgaria, not in order to do them a favour, but because they are respecting the rules that apply to everyone. This shows that European solidarity has to be earned and that effort is rewarded."@en1
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