Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-13-Speech-2-547-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20111213.33.2-547-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, those were very encouraging words. I am grateful for them. Let me share with this House a couple of personal points as a reflection on this very productive debate. It is not the first, and will not be the last, on the important issue of our relationship with our neighbours.
The first point is the importance of our addressing the internal and the external challenges at the same time because, whenever we try to forget the external challenges and focus only on the internal, or the other way around, we become not stronger, but weaker. It is that balance – taking care of our internal needs, strengthening integration – which enables us to be stronger externally also. It is that balance which turns challenges into opportunities.
My second point is on defending our borders, a subject mentioned in the debate. I am in favour of strong external borders; I am in favour of defending strong external borders; but I am against walls. We worked very hard to remove the wall dividing our continent and we should not, at the end of the process, try to rebuild that wall around our external borders. We need strong borders but ones which will be open, as one of you put it, for commodities such as democracy.
My third point is that I appreciate that the main aspect of interaction with this distinguished House is not this kind of plenary meeting – although such meetings have a huge importance – but the operational steering that both the Commission and the European Parliament have been engaged in for some time already. It is that operational steering which will help us to address a number of issues.
Some of you mentioned regional cooperation and cross-border cooperation. Others have a number of ideas about how to approach intelligent conditionality. By the way, sooner or later, I will be working very hard on that arrangement, and will come to this House with the High Representative to discuss our ideas about how to deal with ‘more for more’ principles. It is one thing to include such conditionality in our philosophical or conceptual approach to neighbourhood policy, but another thing to determine the relevant criteria. How exactly is it going to work? How exactly, according to what formula, are you going to spend those EUR 350 million in the framework of the Arab Spring? These are important questions and they need to be answered in dialogue with this House.
Cooperation with this House is also important if we are not to lose our way on the difficult road before us, because we are entering uncharted territory. Books will be written about what kind of reaction we provide. To help ensure we do not lose our way, I do not only need the input of this House; I also need you to help us to learn from our own mistakes and, sometimes, misjudgments, and provide us with feedback.
My fourth point is to reaffirm that democracy and women’s rights go hand in hand. Our neighbourhood policy will help those trying to break the political, economic and social barriers to equality, through measures ranging from enshrining women’s rights in new constitutions and laws to practical ways of supporting women in meeting their everyday challenges. This is a priority we are promoting across the board, and I am glad the European Parliament report shares that vision.
There has also been concern about the possibility of our moving funds from the EU development and humanitarian aid budget to the neighbourhood policy instrument. It is a fact that the European Union budget is finite; it cannot expand for ever, so we have to make choices. But let me make it absolutely clear that those funds we have already reallocated to the neighbourhood policy instrument from the development cooperation instrument came from allocations for middle-income countries where absorption was low.
My sixth and last point is that we will be issuing our next progress report on the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy next spring. I hope to be able to inform you in more detail on that occasion about what we are doing to deliver on the renewed ENP and the results of our policy. In the meantime, I need all the interaction, and all the support, you can provide because we are talking not only about a new neighbourhood but also about a new commitment, a new engagement and a new philosophy as regards our relationship with our neighbourhood."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples