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President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Opening of the sitting (first sitting of the newly elected Parliament) Video of the speechesPV
|
Ladies and gentlemen, under the terms of the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, I declare the first sitting of the European Parliament following the elections open. (Applause) I would ask you to rise for the European anthem. Ladies and gentlemen, I warmly welcome you to the first sitting of the European Parliament following the elections and congratulate you all: the re-elected Members and the newly elected Members. A little under half of the 736 Members have been elected to the European Parliament for the first time. It is particularly heartening that 35% of the Members are women – a percentage that has never been as high before in the European Parliament. (Applause) 170 million citizens turned out to vote, and our work serves a great purpose: to unite our continent! In this work, we must never forget that the European Union is based on values. Human dignity, human rights, freedom, democracy, the rule of law and peace are the foundations of our actions. We are bound together by solidarity. I would ask you to ensure that mutual respect forever remains our guiding principle. If we do this, we are sure to succeed. Now let us get to work!
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
This morning, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, we must elect the President. According to Rule 13 of the Rules of Procedure, candidates for the office of President of our Parliament must be nominated, with the consent of the people concerned, by a group or by at least 40 Members. Under the conditions provided for in the Rules of Procedure, I have received the following nominations for the office of President of the European Parliament: Mr Jerzy Buzek Mrs Eva-Britt Svensson The candidates have informed me that they consent to their nomination as candidates. Both candidates will now introduce themselves briefly, starting with Mrs Svensson.
| null |
Eva-Britt Svensson
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate all my fellow Members on the trust that has been shown in you by the citizens of your respective Member States. This is an enormous amount of trust and hence it is also an enormous responsibility for us all to meet our citizens’ expectations and demands for the changes that are needed and to build a citizens’ Europe. Democracy, the right to choose their elected representatives, is the most important instrument that our citizens have. To be able to talk of true democracy requires more than the right to vote. It requires openness, transparency and an open debate. I would therefore like to say that it is extremely important for us now to ensure that we reform the first reading procedure. We must take the trust shown in Parliament seriously and demonstrate the openness that is also required with regard to the first reading procedure. Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing huge challenges: an economic crisis with higher unemployment, increased exclusion and social insecurity. We have a climate crisis that has already resulted in climate refugees. As usual, it is the poorest people that are hit first and hardest. We see an EU and a world full of injustice and poverty. There are, however, political solutions to these crises, but they require a change in policy. The policy that has been pursued up to now has not solved the problems that we have been responsible for solving. On the contrary, in many areas it has helped to create the crises. We need a change in policy. We need a policy for a social Europe, a policy that promotes workers’ rights to protection against social dumping. We need a policy that prevents social marginalisation and poverty. We need a policy that safeguards the participation of all citizens. We need a policy that does not discriminate against any citizen, regardless of ethnicity, disability, gender, age or sexual orientation. I would like to see an EU that protects the interests of all its citizens. I want to see a policy that creates new jobs – new green jobs. We need to invest in green technology, which – in addition to creating the new jobs that are needed – will also help to create growth and put a stop to climate change, which is one of the most fundamentally important tasks that humanity and Europe are facing. I want to see an EU that takes responsibility for ensuring fair and responsible international trade. I want to see an EU with a humane asylum and immigration policy that protects immigrants and their rights. I want to see a diverse Europe. This is how we generate development. I want to see a diverse Europe in which every citizen receives protection. I want to see a Europe, an EU, that takes responsibility for human rights. When human rights are repressed, regardless of where in the world it takes place, we can never, ever compromise. These rights are inviolable and this applies to every single human being. Regardless of whether it is a question of freedom of expression, public access, privacy or whatever else, human rights are always inviolable. Ladies and gentlemen, it is our responsibility to stand up for human rights, wherever in the world they are under threat. I was pleased to hear the President say that the elections in June increased the representation of women in this Parliament. This was made possible by the joint efforts of both men and women. We worked together to increase the representation of women. We are now going a step further and ensuring that we increase the influence of women, including when it comes to positions of responsibility in Parliament and the other institutions of the EU. This is our opportunity. Together, ladies and gentlemen, we can show the citizens of Europe that we are assuming responsibility and demonstrate the emergence of a modern, diverse society. Today, each one of you has the power of your vote. You have the power to send out a strong message to our citizens that we are now building a citizens’ Europe, a social Europe, to demonstrate to both our citizens and the world around us that the EU is prepared to take responsibility for global justice, human rights and the global environment and to demonstrate the power we have with our votes to send out the message that European citizens are expecting of this Parliament. (Applause)
| null |
Jerzy Buzek
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
pl
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, representatives of the Council and of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, let us congratulate ourselves on meeting in this room. We represent half a billion inhabitants of this continent – a considerable responsibility. I would like to say a few words about myself. I am a scientist by profession. I began my political activity in 1980 in the Solidarność trade union, which fought for freedom, and human and civil rights (Applause). The fight for human and civil rights has always been at the heart of my activity. Between 1997 and 2001 I was the Prime Minister of Poland. For four years we negotiated Poland’s membership of the structures of the European Union. Since 2004, I have been a Member of the European Parliament. I have been involved with research, innovation and new technologies, then with energy security, climate change and how to address the latter, and also with the Eastern Partnership. It so happens that all of these matters are also our priorities during this current term of office. We should remember that we are currently living through a crisis, and our citizens expect us, first and foremost, to deal with it. We should also remember to streamline parliamentary activity, a process which has already begun thanks to action taken over the last few years. We can only achieve this if the Treaty of Lisbon is adopted in full. This will help to make us more efficient and more productive, and enable us to act on the international stage. We have certain commitments: the Mediterranean, the Eastern Partnership, Latin America, the strategic alliance with the United States and developing powers on the world stage. These are our major challenges, and this is why the Treaty of Lisbon will provide us with an exceptional tool to meet those challenges. Finally, I would like to say to you that the most important crisis which we must deal with – and which we must acknowledge, however hard that may be – is the lack of trust from our citizens. Let us speak harshly to one another, as we sometimes must, to overcome our weaknesses. Our citizens often do not understand us. We need to do everything we can to change this. This is primarily our responsibility, as Members of the European Parliament, as we come here every week from our constituencies and, at the end of the week, as we go back, all over Europe. We know better than anyone what our constituents’ grievances are and what they expect. Let us hope for this above all, since then it will be easier for us to rise to the challenges before us. (Applause)
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
I will now announce the result of the vote. Number of voters: 713 Voting slips that were not filled in or were invalid: 69 Votes cast: 644 Absolute majority: 323 Jerzy Buzek received 555 votes. (Loud and sustained applause) Mrs Eva-Britt Svensson received 89 votes. (Applause) Jerzy Buzek has therefore received the absolute majority of the votes cast. I will therefore repeat in my own language what I tried to say in Polish: I congratulate Mr Buzek most sincerely on his convincing election and wish him all the best in the wonderful job that he is about to take over, and I would ask him to take his place here in the President’s chair. (Applause)
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Dear colleagues, thank you for electing me President of the European Parliament. For me it is both an enormous challenge and a great honour. Thank you to those who voted for me; I will do everything not to disappoint your trust. For those of you who did not vote for me, I will try to convince you to me. I wish to work with all of you, regardless of political conventions. I count on your support. Thank you, Mrs Svensson, for taking part in this election and for our discussions. To our colleagues, Mario Mauro and Graham Watson, who stood as candidates and resigned early in order to strengthen the unity of our House, this was a profound gesture. Mario, I know how important for you human rights are. In my homeland, Solidarność was born, a great movement for human rights, … (Applause) …which was possible thanks to the lesson of John Paul II. For me, human rights will also be a priority. Graham, you spoke about the necessity of change in the European Parliament, of the need for reform, of the need to involve in the European project our citizens, who are becoming more and more indifferent. I will make sure that, together, we will do everything we can to change this. (Applause)
| null |
Joseph Daul
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, it was unexpected, but it is a joy – I believe – for everyone here no longer to have an Eastern or a Western Europe for the first time in this Parliament. We simply have a Europe that is symbolised by our President, who is in the Chamber today. (Applause) This is unity; this is also where our responsibilities lie, as you said earlier, Mr Buzek. Forgetting about East and West, in the two and a half years of your presidency, and speaking only of a single Europe – that is my wish, for you and for Europe.
| null |
Martin Schulz
|
MEP
|
S&D
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, on behalf of our group I would like to congratulate you on your election. We supported your election and, even though we should be careful not to overuse the term ‘historic moment’, I believe that your election as President of the European Parliament is indeed an historic moment. (Applause) The fact that 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, six years after the accession of your country and many other Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union – which was after all a process that you yourself initiated as Prime Minister of your country, as the accession negotiations took place during your term of office – the fact that 20 years after putting an end to the division of the world into two heavily armed blocs, after overcoming the Stalinist dictatorships of the states which had to suffer 40 years longer under these dictatorships than the western part of Europe did under the fascist dictatorships, the fact that 20 years later it is only natural that Members from Poland, Hungary, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic or Slovakia should be sitting together with Members from France, Portugal, Finland, Germany, Austria or Italy in this Chamber and that we are able to elect as head of this assembly a representative of Solidarność, a democratically elected head of the Polish Government, in a free, secret and fair election – that is in my view an historic moment, which proves that Europe – this great continent in which 27 states have united to become the European Union – actually represents something, and that is that the dream of democracy and freedom can become reality if we do not merely dream, but also actively work to bring it about, as you have done in your life. I therefore believe that your Presidency is also an appeal to all of us and that the values on which this Union was founded are the values that drove the dictators to the wall and overcame the dictatorships. It is the wish of our group that your Presidency will be based on these values. My sincere congratulations, Mr Buzek. (Applause)
| null |
Guy Verhofstadt
|
MEP
|
ALDE
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, first of all congratulations from the Liberal and Democratic Group on your election. I can tell you that you have the full support of the Liberal and Democratic Group for the forthcoming years in your work. Your work, from our point of view, means the creation of a more integrated European Union and a European Union that uses the community method. You have become President at a very difficult time: we have to ratify the Lisbon Treaty; we have to find a single strategy against the economic and financial crisis. It is a huge task in which you have the full support of our group. You should know that you have behind you a large pro-European majority in this Parliament. You should be aware of that. (Applause) The only request we have is to use it, this large pro-European majority. To go forward with Europe and also to say what you have to say in the European Council, that you know so well – as I do. I hope that you can make your voice heard there and have more ‘Europe’ in that institution also. (Applause)
| null |
Rebecca Harms
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, I would also like to join the previous speakers in congratulating you on behalf of my group. We are also very happy about your election. I think that it is a slight understatement, Mr President, when you say that it is an honour for you to take up the position to which we have elected you today. It is, on the contrary, an honour for us – at least from the point of view of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance – to have you as President. Everything you have done in your political career has helped you to achieve your current position, and we are all putting our trust in you. I am not sure if it will be possible in two and a half years to overcome the division that still exists between East and West, but I believe that, with you at the head of this House, we can strengthen bridges between East and West. I personally would like it to be clear to the Members from Western Europe that Poland is in the middle of the continent, that you come from a country at the heart of the continent and that the work to forge links with the East must now be carried out much more intensively than it has been in the past. You are in the best position to do this. I was very pleased to hear you say that we need to get closer to our citizens. We in the Group of the Greens will always support you in this. Strengthening Europe from within is important, but it is also important to think about Europe on a larger scale. Allow me to express yet another personal wish. As I got to know you particularly well on the streets and in the squares of Kiev during the Orange Revolution – and you were a very courageous politician even then – let us not forget Ukraine in our consideration of the countries to the east of the EU. The situation there also needs to improve. Something I would like to do during the European Football Championships – which are not long away now and which will be hosted in Poland and Ukraine – is to watch one or two matches with you. I wish you every success in your new role! (Applause)
| null |
Timothy Kirkhope
|
MEP
|
ECR
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, may I congratulate you on your presidency and in particular welcome the fact that in your remarks you have referred to history – and others have referred to it as well. You certainly seem to be someone who will value the freedoms which this House wishes to have: the freedom of expression, but also the freedoms of looking ahead, of change and reform in Europe, and that this House must change and reform with Europe. The fact that you have a history of which you are proud, and rightfully so, from 1980 in Solidarność and onwards, where you brought Poland into NATO and then started the negotiations for membership of the European Union, you are someone who can embrace the changes that Europe needs now. We welcome you. We will do our very best to help you in the job that you have taken on. (Applause)
| null |
Lothar Bisky
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, I am pleased that a neighbour from Poland has become President of this House. I come from eastern Germany and work near Słubice. Słubice and Frankfurt/Oder are both part of a united Europe. I would like to thank you for focusing in particular on the continued integration of Eastern and Western Europe. There is still much to do in this respect, as we are all aware. However, I would also like to mention the important contribution in terms of Polish culture that you can make to cooperation and cultural diversity in Europe. I hope that I will soon be able to speak to you in more depth. I have started to work towards this. Two of my sons speak Polish. I once had the honour of presenting the Andrzej Wajda film prize to the director Andreas Dresen and of making a speech to mark the occasion. Andrzej Wajda and other Polish directors are part of our European culture. I hope that Western Europe and Eastern Europe will not forget the special achievements of Eastern European culture. Mr President, you have our respect and our support!
| null |
Nigel Farage
|
MEP
|
ID
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, I would like to congratulate you on being elected although I feel that this morning it has been more like a papal inauguration. If this Parliament were a proper Parliament, it would actually select Members to sit in the chair on ability and not have the usual big group stitch-ups. That is rather a shame. I think the signs for change here are not very good. Just yesterday we had armed Eurocorps soldiers carrying the European flag round the courtyard outside, a sort of European Union version of trooping the colour. We had an orchestra, we had the anthem, we had a choir; we started today, did we not, with the anthem. This is the same flag and anthem that you said had been dropped after the French and Dutch very sensibly said ‘no’ to the dreaded EU Constitution. You are not even pretending any more. You are pushing ahead with all the symbols of statehood and trying at the same time to lie and cheat to the Irish by giving them a series of guarantees that are not worth the paper that they are written on. Well, I can tell you that many of us in this Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group will do all we can to help the ‘no’ side in that Irish referendum. (Heckling) The future of European democracy rests very heavily on Irish shoulders. Mr President, you fought against the Soviet Union. You fought for democracy. You fought for national self-determination. If you continue to ignore the democratic voice of countries like France, the Netherlands and Ireland, then you will turn the European Union back into that very Union that you fought so hard against. Listen to the people, please. (Mixed reactions)
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Thank you for your speech, Mr Farage. European parliamentarianism has always provided a forum for various opinions. This is what discussion in Europe is based on. The speeches of those Members who wished to speak have now ended, but I think that the President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, is signalling that he would like to say a few words. Mr Barroso, please take the floor.
| null |
José Manuel Barroso
|
EU Commission President
|
N/A
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, I should like, both personally and on behalf of the European Commission, to congratulate you most sincerely on your election to the presidency of the European Parliament. The path that you have taken has led you courageously to defend freedom, democracy and the rule of law in order to help impose them in your own country, Poland. Your political career has taken you as far as the office of prime minister, before you were elected as an MEP. You are the first President of this House to come from a Member State in Central or Eastern Europe. It is armed with this wealth of exceptional experience and with the values that you uphold that, today, you assume your new role as President of the European Parliament. Twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and five years on from enlargement, your election is a victory for reunified Europe. There are many of us here who know of and appreciate your personality, your political vision and your campaign work. There are just as many of us who believe that your personal qualities naturally predispose you to play the role of a President who actively and passionately defends the interests of Europe and its citizens. This experience and these values will mean that the handover from Mr Pöttering – who knows this institution better than anyone – to you will be a harmonious one. I send Mr Pöttering my best wishes now that he is leaving office; he has carried out his role with extraordinary dignity and with an unwavering belief in Europe. At a time of difficulties, and given the complex political model that we have, we shall have to work now more than ever in a positive, constructive and united spirit, in order to make progress with Europe. The power and the competences of this Parliament will also be strengthened with the Treaty of Lisbon, which an overwhelming majority of Parliament, and the Commission, want to adopt; in fact, a treaty that has already been adopted by 26 parliaments of our Europe deserves the respect of all MEPs. Our institutions must strengthen one another for the sake of the European project. This is particularly true as regards the relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission. We know perfectly well that it is the cooperation between our two institutions that moves the European project forward. Mr President, my dear friend, all that remains is for me to wish you, and the new Parliament, success in your work towards establishing a Europe that more fully promotes the values of freedom and solidarity.
| null |
Bruno Gollnisch
|
MEP
|
NI
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of the President of the European ParliamentPV
|
Mr President, I had resigned myself to being overlooked to some extent, in the same way as my non-attached colleagues, for whom I certainly speak in offering you the congratulations that are due to yourself, but rather less, it must be said, to the method of your election, since your triumphant election is, in a way, the result of an agreement between the two main groups of this House, which oppose one another rather artificially at election time and then go on to jointly manage Parliament for five years. Mr President, I hope that you are the master of your victory, that you do not become a slave to these two main groups, that you are able to defend the rights of minorities and, in particular, the rights of dissidents such as ourselves, of those who are concerned about the effects of economic globalisation on their identity, and of the universal mixing of people, goods and capital, who do not believe that this necessarily brings benefits and who condemn the indefinite increase in the European Union’s powers with regard to their national freedoms. We are, in a way, dissidents just as you once were. We hope that you will protect the rights of dissidents and, in particular, that you will attach great importance to respect for these Rules of Procedure, which should not be systematically amended, since it is clear that they can benefit those who are, I believe, the true defenders of the freedoms of the European nations. (Applause)
| null |
József Szájer
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Mr President, I would like to ask whether there is any minimum requirement for the vote.
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Mr Szájer, there is no minimum number: you can leave one person or two persons; it does not matter.
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Dear colleagues, allow me to say a few words at the beginning. During the break in the sitting it came to my attention that an Italian soldier was killed today in Afghanistan in the NATO-led mission there. His death comes after 15 British soldiers were killed in the past month. I think we always need to remember our men and women in the armed forces who are on missions abroad, often in dangerous situations, so that they know they are not forgotten. (Applause)
| null |
Véronique De Keyser
|
MEP
|
S&D
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Mr President, I am truly sorry but, for the sake of a clear vote, since we do not have a display and we have tried to keep up with your very quick delivery, please could you read out the names and the votes again a little more slowly?
| null |
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Mr President, put the numbers on the screen so that we can all see them. It is not very difficult. (Applause)
| null |
Bernd Posselt
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-14T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Election of Vice-Presidents (first, second and third ballots) PV
|
Mr President, I would urge you very strongly to ring the bell, as I see that a lot of Members from all groups are not here. Many people are under the impression that the vote is not due to start until 19.30. I would therefore ask you to ring the bell one more time.
| null |
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Signature of acts adopted under codecision: see MinutesVideo of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, the Lithuanian Parliament voted yesterday for a law on homosexuality, on propaganda on homosexuality and bisexuality. The Lithuanian President had already refused to sign this law. It was referred back to the parliament. This law is in direct opposition to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Article 6(1) of the Treaty of Lisbon. I call on you, Mr President, on behalf of this Parliament, to protest against this law in the name of European values, since the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as reproduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, provides for non-discrimination in relation to sexual orientation, and this law discriminates against sexual minorities. On behalf of this Parliament, I call on you to write to the Lithuanian Parliament to state that this law goes against the common idea of Europe. (Applause)
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Signature of acts adopted under codecision: see MinutesVideo of the speechesPV
|
Thank you. We proceed to a presentation of the order of business.
| null |
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Signature of acts adopted under codecision: see MinutesVideo of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, can you tell me whether or not you are going to act? I have asked you to do something; you should tell me whether or not you are going to do it. That is what I asked you.
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Signature of acts adopted under codecision: see MinutesVideo of the speechesPV
|
I will find out what the Lithuanian Parliament has adopted and then I will decide what to do. I will be in touch with you about this.
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
The next item is the joint debate on the following: - the European Council report and the Commission statement on the outcome of the European Council (18–19 June 2009) - the statement by the outgoing Presidency of the Council on the term in office of the Czech Presidency. I would like to take the opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr Jan Fischer. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso. We have before us the statement by the outgoing Presidency of the Council on the term in office of the Czech Presidency. Please allow me to say a few words at the outset. Yesterday we inaugurated the seventh term of the European Parliament. You entrusted me with the job, the responsibility, the great privilege and the honour of presiding over the European Parliament for the next two and a half years. I would like, today, on this second day, to thank you very warmly once again, to thank you for the trust which you have placed in me. I will do everything to convince you that your decision was the right one. In the first half of 2009 the Presidency was held by a second country from the group which acceded to the European Union barely five years ago. We have, therefore, opportunity to become increasingly united and to come closer together. We are conscious that it was a difficult Presidency because of the crisis and also because of the energy problems. There was also a crisis in Gaza. We also had the elections to the European Parliament. However, as you know, during elections to the European Parliament there is less contact between the Presidency, Parliament and the European Commission. Today we want to hear how the outgoing Czech Presidency sees the past six months and what conclusions and principal comments it has about what we should do in the near future. I would like, therefore, to ask the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic to speak and to present the opinion of the Presidency on the past six months and on what should happen in the near future.
| null |
Jan Fischer
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EU Council President
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N/A
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en
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cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to be able to greet you at the opening of your five-year mandate. The Czech Presidency has come to an end and a new European Parliament is just starting out. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election and on the fact that you have been entrusted by the voters in your countries to represent them in this important European body. I congratulate Jerzy Buzek on his election as President of the European Parliament, along with all of the Vice-Presidents elected yesterday, and I wish you all much success in your important work and in the fulfilment of all the ideas with which you commence your work in the European Parliament. The Czech Republic is drawing up an account of its six-month leadership of the European Council for a different Parliament to the one that was in place when it assumed the role. This changes nothing in terms of our own assessment of our Presidency, of course. On the contrary, I see it rather as a confirmation of continuity in European politics. In the same way, by tackling the effects of the global economic crisis and the issues of energy and energy security, the new Swedish Presidency will continue to fulfil two of the main tasks which occupied us. The first half of this year will go down in the history of the European Union as a period of demanding tests arising from a complex economic and political situation. We anticipated some of these tests, in particular the continuing and already full-blown economic crisis and the need to complete the institutional reform of the EU. Others were unexpected and some were entirely unexpected, such as the conflict in Gaza and the crisis over Russian gas supplies in the very first hours of the Czech Presidency. Our ability to run the Presidency was then put to the test, of course, due to events on the domestic political scene, when the Czech Republic changed government just as we were two thirds of the way through the Presidency. Unlike many people, I do not think that the political crisis in the Czech Republic seriously damaged the EU as a whole, although I agree that the fall of the government was unfortunate. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that we handled the administration of our Presidency without faltering and that we managed over the entire six months to fulfil our priorities – the planned tasks arising from the EU agenda – and to deal with unexpected topical issues on a continuous basis and with total engagement. This was also due to the fact that the specialist teams in the Czech Republic all carried on working with total commitment, loyalty and one hundred percent professionalism. It was also due to the fact that the Czech Presidency received full backing from the Commission following the change of government. I benefited personally from the support of Commission President José Manuel Barroso and I also received strong support at the time – if you will allow me to add a personal note here – from various Member State representatives. This was an enormous help at the time, both for the Czech Government and for me personally. I would like to give notice that I shall not be indulging in any philosophical or political analyses. I do not want to weigh up the political dimensions or cogency of EU leadership under large versus small countries or old versus new countries or the pros and cons of political versus bureaucratic governments in the country holding the Presidency. I will leave that to others and for the rest I will say only that a decent and open-minded analysis requires a certain amount of distance and the falling away of emotions and short-term interests. From now on I will eschew grand words and pathos. I would rather concentrate on bare facts backed up by statistics where appropriate – as statistics is after all my life-long profession and possibly even my passion – or on what Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first President of the Czechoslovak Republic, called the small everyday tasks. As you know, the, Czech Republic expressed its main presidential priorities as the ‘Three Es’: the economy, energy policy and the EU’s role in the world. Circumstances, I think, have demonstrated clearly that these were highly topical, valid themes and their validity is by no means limited to the first half of 2009. They are areas that will continue to require all of our combined efforts in the future, in order for the Union to stand its ground even in times of instability and to benefit its citizens – which is the main reason for it being here. They are priorities which put the idea of integration to the test, demonstrating in practice how faithful we are to the values which were there at the birth of the Community and which define Europe as a common area of freedom, security and prosperity. We selected the motto of ‘Europe without barriers’ to represent this effort symbolically. The economic crisis tested our faithfulness to the idea of integration to the full, adding an even more urgent significance to the Czech Presidency’s motto. The results of the many discussions held over the past half-year and the conclusions of the European Councils show that the twenty-seven Member States passed this test with flying colours. Under the Czech Presidency we turned our backs on protectionism and we agreed on a common and coordinated approach to dealing with the effects of the crisis both in an EU context and on the international stage. In the same way we succeeded in fulfilling a task which many thought us incapable of; the issue of institutional reform. The Czech Republic itself successfully completed the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by both chambers of parliament. This was a clear and convincing expression of political will and it opened up the possibility of a credible solution to the question of the Irish guarantees. I firmly believe that, as a result of the guarantees agreed on at the June European Council, there is a good chance that Ireland will complete the Treaty ratification process as well, so that it can enter into force by the end of 2009. The Czech Presidency also took a serious approach to a task that is connected with the election of this new European Parliament, namely initiating the process of appointing a Commission for the next legislative period 2009–2014. At the June European Council a clear political consensus was achieved on José Manuel Barroso as the candidate for President of the next Commission. The authority for the Czech Presidency and the incoming Swedish Presidency to hold talks with the European Parliament creates the preconditions for preserving institutional continuity. Overall, the Czech Presidency has managed to achieve a series of concrete results or visible progress in all three priority areas. In the legislative area, negotiations over more than 80 concrete measures were brought to a successful conclusion, thanks above all to close cooperation with the Member States and EU institutions, particularly the European Parliament. In the non-legislative area a series of notable successes were also achieved, including the handling of the foreign policy and energy crises at the beginning of the year, the rejection of protectionist tendencies, decisive measures in support of the European economy, steps towards diversification of energy supply and climate protection and the results of negotiations with key partners in the European Union. As far as the individual priorities are concerned, the most important task in the economic sphere was to deal with the effects of the global crisis and to continue implementing the European plan for economic recovery as one of the main instruments for restoring economic prosperity. We also passed muster concerning the measures adopted for stabilising the banking sector. The measures we adopted are effective. Through guarantees and recapitalisation, Member States provided the banks with potential support amounting to more than 30% of the European Union’s GDP. The compromise achieved over the EUR 5 billion package for projects in the area of energy and broadband internet and measures to verify the efficiency of the common agricultural policy provided a positive message from the spring European Council. The agreement over the contribution of EU Member States towards the EUR 75 billion loan for boosting International Monetary Fund resources was of key significance in terms of tackling the global economic crisis. Under the Czech Presidency, the EU, with strong support from the Commission, made a major contribution to the excellent preparations for and successful course of the G20 summit in London, which produced agreement over the major boost to IMF resources and over the resources disbursed through other international institutions to combat the effects of the global economic recession. The EU also gained a strong position at the summit thanks to the common conclusions adopted at the spring European Council. In this way it confirmed its ambition to be a strong global player. As I said earlier, all of the measures aimed at combating the crisis during the Czech Presidency must be viewed against the backdrop of the joint and unequivocal rejection of protectionism. In the area of legislative measures, the Czech Presidency managed to achieve a consensus within the framework of the recovery plan over the possibility of applying reduced VAT rates for labour-intensive locally-provided services. This agreement makes a significant contribution towards maintaining employment in the most vulnerable sectors of the economy and should help small and medium-sized companies in particular. The changes to financial market regulation and market supervision represent a whole chapter in the effort to combat the current financial and economic crisis. During the Czech Presidency major progress was achieved in restoring confidence. We completed negotiations on all of the key legislative proposals which the Presidency established as its objectives. Chief among these was the Solvency II Directive for the areas of insurance, regulations for rating agencies and others. In the challenging debate on the regulation and supervision of financial markets, agreement was reached over the basic elements of reform, which should provide stability at the Member State level and at the level of individual financial institutions and their rules. The June European Council confirmed the direction taken by the Commission. The support voiced for the Commission’s plans should lead to concrete legislative proposals being drawn up and approved in the autumn of this year. Energy policy, the second priority of the Czech Presidency, was severely tested in the very first days of the Presidency. At the same time, we saw that it is not always sensible to tackle the problems of energy crises on an ad hoc basis, since a crisis blows up every six months or so. We should rather adopt systematic measures so that the EU can be secure and resilient in terms of energy supplies. Under the Czech Presidency we took steps to boost energy security, focusing on activities that will increase diversification of energy sources and supply routes through the so-called southern corridor. The support for energy efficiency included in the revised regulations for the European Regional Development Fund also makes a significant contribution to energy security. It enables financial investments to be made in greater energy efficiency and in the use of renewable energy sources in residential buildings. This provides a link to the Swedish Presidency, which has energy efficiency as one of its key priorities. The continuity necessary to the work of the entire EU is again apparent here. Last, but by no means least, the March and June Councils confirmed in full that it would not be sensible to abandon our ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or for financing mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries. At the same time, we established clear priorities and goals which must be fulfilled ahead of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December in order for the EU to defend its position as a leader in climate change. The third priority – or if you will the third ‘E’ – of the Czech Presidency was about the EU in the world, and events demonstrate clearly how important it is for the EU to develop and pursue a common foreign policy. There was ample confirmation of this during the course of the Czech Presidency. While the EU succeeded in solving the gas crisis thanks to its unity, the second crisis from the start of the year, the crisis in Gaza, again showed that if the EU wants to be a truly global player it must learn to speak with one voice. Both of these crises occurred under the one Presidency, which goes to show that the issue of who is actually leading the EU does not matter so much as the unity of all twenty-seven Member States. The Czech Presidency succeeded in kicking off the Eastern Partnership project which is a continuation of the neighbourhood policy, this time in an eastward direction. The main foreign priority of the Czech Presidency was to continue the process of EU enlargement. This mainly involved a European perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans. Due to the situation in the region, the Presidency had limited room for manoeuvre. However, despite the suspension of accession talks with Croatia, progress was achieved in the process of visa liberalisation. I have presented a brief and matter-of-fact summary of the priorities of the Czech Presidency and their fulfilment. More detailed information is of course available and I am now available myself to respond to your questions and comments.
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José Manuel Barroso
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EU Commission President
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N/A
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en
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fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the first plenary session of a newly elected European Parliament is a unique political moment. It opens a legislative term that will influence the daily lives of hundreds of millions of European citizens and the fate of an entire continent. I should like sincerely to congratulate all the MEPs who have just been elected. Your presence in this Chamber is the result of the greatest exercise in transnational democracy ever staged in the world. I wish you every success for your term of office. The challenges faced by Europe and those that it will have to take up over the next few years are immense. Firstly, there is the economic and financial crisis, which requires us to continue the systematic coordinated action that we have embarked on. There is the social cost of this crisis, which is our top priority. There is the fight against climate change and the transition to a green and sustainable economy, which shows the political direction we need to go in. All these challenges have also distinguished the Czech Presidency, which has just come to an end. I should like to congratulate Prime Minister Fischer and his predecessor, Mirek Topolánek, on the results obtained during a particularly difficult phase. I thank them and their entire team for their excellent cooperation, despite some internal political difficulties. I should also like to highlight the political significance of this Czech Presidency. For the first time, a country which, only a few years ago, was a member of the Warsaw Pact has been in charge of our European project of freedom and solidarity. This is a very important point, which shows the extent to which we have progressed within our Europe. During the Czech Presidency we have been able to achieve some impressive results in practice: 54 texts have been adopted by codecision. I should like to mention in particular the agreement on a wide range of measures on regulation of the financial markets and on the EUR 5 billion in the context of the European recovery plan, and you are all very well aware of how hard we, the Commission and Parliament, have had to fight to achieve this. I would also mention the review of the Globalisation Adjustment Fund. I welcome the development of the internal energy market and of the internal transport market. In all of these areas there were ambitious proposals from the Commission, which were supported by this Parliament. I welcome the unanimous support of the last European Council for the road map that the Commission proposed on the subject of supervision of the financial markets. We now have an ambitious consensus that no one could have hoped for a few months ago when I convened a group of high-level experts under the chairmanship of Mr de Larosière. This will enable us to spearhead the reform of the international financial system. Moreover, it was in this same spirit that we took part in the G20 in London, prompting some very important decision-making. Beyond its legislative work, the Czech Presidency has also been able to confront challenges of a political nature, some of which were extremely sensitive, indeed extremely serious. We have had to manage the gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia, which has again highlighted the need for Europe to strengthen its energy security. Over the last six months we have made much progress, for example by developing the Baltic interconnection plan. The day before yesterday I attended the ceremony of the signing of the Nabucco project between Turkey and four of our Member States – Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania – in the presence of many countries from which we hope to import gas in the future. This is a truly European project, and I am proud that the Commission has been able to act as a facilitator in it, since this role has been recognised as essential for all the participants. Mr President, during the Czech Presidency there were also very important developments concerning the Lisbon Treaty. The last European Council agreed the necessary guarantees that allow the Irish Government to call a second referendum, fully reassured that the concerns expressed by Irish people have been addressed satisfactorily. Let us not forget that it was also during the Czech Presidency that the Czech Senate finalised parliamentary ratification, bringing the total number of Member States that have completed the parliamentary approval process to 26. The Czech Presidency has now passed the baton to the Swedish Presidency, but the challenges Europe faces continue and go well beyond the scope of a single presidency. The European project has always been a long-term one. We make progress when we work as a team. Like a team, every member is vital to success: the Council, the Commission and Parliament all have an important role to play in meeting our common European ambitions at the service of Europe’s citizens. The Europe we must continue to build together is a strong Europe, an open Europe, a Europe of solidarity. It is a Europe that offers a maximum of opportunities to its citizens; a Europe that builds on its continental dimension and draws full benefit from the potential of its internal market, so crucial for consumers and for small- and medium-sized companies; a Europe of knowledge and innovation; a Europe that respects the environment and ensures its energy security; a Europe that reaches out to other global actors in a spirit of partnership in order to tackle shared challenges together. In this time of global crisis, we need a strong Europe more than ever before – and a strong Europe means a united Europe ready to seize and shape its destiny. Let us work together – Parliament, Council, Commission – to show that the expectations of Europe’s citizens are safe in our hands; that their desire for freedom, justice and solidarity will not go ignored. (Applause)
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Ádám Kósa
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MEP
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PPE
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en
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hu
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I feel deeply moved as I stand here in the European Parliament as the first deaf person able to address you in my mother tongue, Hungarian sign language. I do so not only for myself and the deaf community, but also for every disadvantaged person. I am now beginning to feel that I belong to a European community where even minorities can achieve success. Just take Robert Schuman as an example, who was from Alsace-Lorraine and went on to become the founding father of the EU 50 years ago. Around the end of the EU’s outgoing Czech Presidency, a turn of events unfortunately took place which I would also like to bring to the attention of the EU’s incoming Swedish Presidency. Two weeks ago the Slovak Parliament adopted a regulation which will seriously restrict the rights of the minorities living in that country to use their own language. As a user of sign language, I feel it is my duty to stand up for the rights of people in Europe to use their own language and for the importance of this. This is the reason why I am going to be working here in the European Parliament. However, I want to give a message to every European citizen. I want a Europe where everyone is guaranteed the right to live their life to the full and fulfil their potential. I want a Europe where deaf people represented by me or any person living with a disability, for that matter, really do enjoy equal opportunities. I would like to say a particular word of thanks to Joseph Daul, Chairman of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), for giving me the opportunity to address you on this special day. This also proves that Europe really is about diversity, tolerance and equal opportunities.
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Libor Rouček
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MEP
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S&D
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en
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cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Prime Minister Fischer, Commission President Barroso, ladies and gentlemen, in January this year I warned this honourable assembly that the Czech Presidency would not be easy and that it would probably be marked by major instability. The reason for my fears was the instability within the Czech Government coalition, the disagreements between government and opposition and the disputes between government and president. I would like to say briefly that the speech made by Czech President Václav Klaus to this honourable assembly unfortunately confirmed my fears of instability, showing that the Presidency would indeed be marked by instability, and not just through the collapse of the government. Despite this, some things have been successful over the six months, others less so. On the plus side I would mention the energy policy referred to earlier. I think that the Czech Republic managed very well in resolving the gas crisis of January this year. The signing of the Nabucco agreement, mentioned here by Mr Barroso, was also the result of work done by the Czech Presidency. Unfortunately, the handling of the economic crisis did not fulfil the expectations of Europe and the European Parliament. Let us recall the speech of former Czech Prime Minister Topolánek, when he sent US President Obama to hell, along with his economic policy. Despite this, I would like in conclusion to thank Prime Minister Fischer in particular for rescuing the Czech Presidency. The June summit is proof of this, since the entire agenda of the summit was successfully implemented. I would also like to thank the hundreds of Czech officials, not only in Brussels but in all of the Czech ministries. In my opinion these officials did a very good and professional job and they cannot be held responsible for what was happening on the Czech political scene.
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Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
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MEP
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ALDE
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en
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de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, allow me, first of all, to congratulate you on your election. I wish you every success over the next two and a half years. I was even able to understand your last request to keep to our speaking time without using headphones. Prime Minister, your predecessor did not have an easy or positive start. The emphasis was quite rightly placed on energy, economy and external relations, but as is so often the case in life, what happens in reality is sometimes very different to what we had planned. In the Gaza conflict, the Council Presidency rushed straight in without first having agreed on a common European approach. In the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, millions of people were freezing before your government stepped forward and acted as an intermediary, with very successful results. Despite the criticism, you were also successful in other areas. It is a lasting achievement of the Czech Presidency that the European Union did not make the mistake of sliding into protectionism, as was the case in the 1930s. That was and still is a real danger. On this issue the Presidency took a clear line, supported in particular by the Competition Commissioner. Many people want to use the crisis to promote a new economic nationalism. That would be catastrophic. For Liberals and Democrats, free and fair competition, as provided for in the Treaties, is the way to growth and prosperity. However, if our citizens are to accept free competition, they want and need to be certain that the rules are the same for everyone. The distortion of competition, foreclosure, a preference for a state’s own national companies – all these things will lead not to the end of the crisis, but straight up a blind alley. During its Presidency, the Czech Republic, as a new Member State, rightly had to issue many old Member States with a call to order, which was unfortunately necessary in view of the fact that the internal market must not be eroded and rules must be followed. The Czech Government proved ultimately to be helpless in the face of the constant harassment from Prague Castle and the vote of no confidence. Its fall in the middle of its presidential term was unprecedented. The whole of Europe looked to Prague in amazement. With this move, the Czech political class did a disservice both to its own country and to Europe. Prime Minister, you have however shown that, in politics just as in football, a game can still turn even if substitutions are not made until it has gone into extra time. In the European Council in June the course was set for an overhaul of financial market supervision. It is now the task of the Commission to carry this initiative forward with determination. You have negotiated the guarantees for Ireland so that, hopefully, the referendum on 2 October will be successful. The Member States have formally agreed on a candidate for the office of President of the Commission and thus met an important demand by our group. Prime Minister, you personally have done a good job and gained a great deal of respect. However, the first Czech Presidency will probably not take the place in the history books that we had all hoped it would. What we nevertheless ought to remember is your motto: ‘Europe without borders’.
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Rebecca Harms
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MEP
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Greens/EFA
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en
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de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, Prime Minister, President of the Commission, it is not easy to weigh up the progress that ought to have been made during the period of the Czech Presidency. I have tried very hard to do this on behalf of my group, but what we would have liked to have seen – namely the Czech Presidency rising to the challenges – did not actually happen. With regard to the financial crisis, when we reconvene here in September after the summer break we will have been talking about the required new regulation of the financial markets for a whole year, but we will have made virtually no progress in this regard. A lot of statements have been made that are intended to reassure citizens, but not very much is actually being done. As regards the economic crisis, the European recovery plan – I find it almost embarrassing that this is mentioned so often – is however merely a token programme to enable us to talk about European recovery planning, but it lacks any real substance. It runs to a mere EUR 5 billion and then there is the petty dispute about how this EUR 5 billion should be used. I do not think that this is something we ought to be proud of. A programme that we have worked hard on, namely a consistent programme for energy efficiency in Europe, which would safeguard millions of jobs, has not been given any real consideration. I now turn to the climate crisis and I hardly need to ask green politicians to evaluate the policy in this area. Ivo de Boer, the United Nations’ top climate change official, and Ban Ki-moon impressed upon us after the last conference in Bonn that all of countries of the world which have claimed that they would take a leading role in this global policy to combat the climate crisis have fallen far short of doing what would actually be needed. If we take the European energy policy as a measure of what we as Europeans are actually willing to do, I do not believe that we can really regard the constantly competitive strategy that was so clearly employed in connection with the North Stream and Nabucco projects to be the starting point for a common future-oriented European energy policy. Why is this? What are the reasons for this? I believe that the criticism for this should not really be directed at you, Mr Fischer. The country which the chairman of my group, Mr Cohn-Bendit, visited carrying the European flag in his rucksack so that he could give it to the President was in reality weak. And unfortunately, Mr Barroso, even though there is often talk about your strength, where was this strength during the times of weakness of this Council Presidency? We did not see any evidence of it. (Applause)
| null |
Jan Zahradil
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MEP
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ECR
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en
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cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Prime Minister, Commission President, it is a great honour for me to be able to stand up today as the first speaker from the many new groupings of European conservatives and reformers and also as a Czech MEP talking about the Czech Presidency. However, I will be speaking as a Member of the European Parliament and not just from a narrow national perspective. At the same time, I will be speaking as a representative of my group and therefore I will take account of its political priorities. I have already had an opportunity to speak at the plenary session in January, when Czech Prime Minister Topolánek presented the priorities of the Czech Presidency here, and I am speaking today as Czech Prime Minister Fischer submits the report on what the Czech Republic has achieved. I do not mention this by chance. I would like to draw attention to the fact that the Czech Government has succeeded in preserving both the political and the organisational continuity of the Presidency, despite the collapse of the Government, which was the result purely of internal political factors. I would like at this point to applaud the tone of the Prime Minister’s speech, as it was exactly the tone of the Czech Presidency itself, matter-of-fact and results-orientated. In my opinion, some of the critical assessments were based on the subjective feelings of certain European representatives or media figures and have contributed nothing to our much-vaunted European cohesion, belonging instead to private political campaigns targeted at domestic audiences. I would now like to turn to the three priorities of the Czech Presidency. In relation to the economy I would like to emphasise again that the Czech Republic has succeeded in heading off an ominous wave of national protectionist measures which would have seriously undermined the fundamental values of European integration and particularly the principles of the unified single market. Concerning energy policy, the issue of secure and maintainable supplies for the energy sector proved to be a well chosen theme. In the first days of the Czech Presidency an imminent crisis over gas supplies was successfully warded off, bearing in mind of course that any real progress over this issue will require long-term strategic measures, including diversification of supply and liberalisation of the internal energy market. From the symbolic perspective of the other aim of EU foreign relations I would like to emphasise the summits with major global players, in other words the EU-US summit, which reaffirmed the fundamental importance of transatlantic relations, and also the EU-Russia summit and the EU-China summit. I would also like to stress the importance of the Eastern Partnership initiative and its implementation. In conclusion, I believe that the Czech Presidency can be summed up, on the whole, as providing proof that medium-sized countries and so-called new Member States can manage such a role with honour and to a high standard.
| null |
Miloslav Ransdorf
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MEP
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GUE/NGL
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en
|
cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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I would like to say that the Czech Presidency was actually rescued by Mr Fischer’s government and by Mr Fischer himself. I would like to emphasise that the Presidency coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the political changes which the media characterises as a liberation, but we have also had twenty years of unfulfilled promises, because levels of competence in the administration of public affairs have plummeted in the Czech Republic. I would also like to say that from this standpoint the government of Mr Fischer has been a pleasant surprise. He is a prime minister and a man who refuses to lie. His name first came to my attention when he was taking a stand against the falsification of statistical data in the Czech Republic. He is a man who avoids the grand phrases we have heard here under various presidencies, and who acts with deliberation. In my opinion it is a very good thing that such a man finally came to lead the Czech Presidency. As we are now marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Calvin, who was born in France on 10 July 1509, I would like to say that the only thing that will truly save us in this difficult situation with two crises... (the President cut off the speaker)
| null |
Nigel Farage
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MEP
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ID
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
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Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, the Czech Presidency has followed a depressingly familiar pattern: continuity, more of the same, the continuing obsession with climate change and the continuing drive to have new legislation. You said that under this Presidency legislation in 18 new areas had been worked on and you seem to be proud of that. I would have thought it is about time we took a couple of steps back and said that what we have in the European Union is an over-regulated model that is serving us very badly during the depths of a recession. And yet more status quo. You supported the idea of shooing in Mr Barroso without there being any sort of proper contest, but it is on the Lisbon Treaty that I was most interested. You ratified the Treaty through your own parliamentary chambers, without of course the thought of giving the people in your own country a referendum to express their opinion. But it is when it comes to Ireland that I really get interested. You said that you wanted there to be a credible policy for Ireland with their second referendum, and so you produced these guarantees, and here they are – guarantees on the right to life, on taxation, on security and defence. This document has no legal force whatsoever. It is not worth the paper that it is written on. You are the author of a disgraceful attempt to con the Irish into voting for this Lisbon Treaty in their forthcoming referendum. Of course you have been supported by Mr Barroso on that. He never respects the result of democratic referendums whether they are in France, the Netherlands or Ireland. He says we must ignore them, we must continue. It is all about power. It is all about him and the EU institutions getting more power at the expense of the Member States. I hope the Irish tell you all where to go in the second referendum on 2 October – and they just might! (Mixed reactions) However, I do not wish to be mean-spirited, because there was one wonderful, bright, uplifting moment during the Czech Presidency, a moment when all of us that believe in nation states, that believe in democracy, that believe genuinely in the rule of law could come into this Chamber and feel for the first time in my experience proud of the fact that we were part of this European Parliament. I am of course referring to the visit of Václav Klaus. What a wonderful speech that was: coming into this Chamber and telling a few home truths and pointing out that European parliamentarians and leaders are not listening to the peoples of Europe – at which 200 of you got up and walked out of the room. So at least for Václav Klaus we thank you very much for the last six months. (Applause)
| null |
José Manuel Barroso
|
EU Commission President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, I should just like to put a question. I am not criticising, but is it allowed to have flags in the Chamber? (Objections. Mr Farage held up a Union Flag.) Because, if it is allowed, I should just like to put the European flag here today, if I may do so. (Mr Barroso placed a European flag on his desk. Applause.)
| null |
Andreas Mölzer
|
MEP
|
NI
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, in terms of European integration, it is without doubt a good thing that one of the new EU countries, in this case the Czech Republic, held the Council Presidency. Less welcome, however, was the chaos which the Presidency is partly responsible for leading us into. Of course, we could hardly expect perfection from a new country with little European experience, but we could at least expect a minimum degree of sensitivity. The arts scandal at the start of the Presidency could not have been blamed on the government in Prague, but the Council Presidency can be held fully responsible for its half-hearted response and the fact that the artworks remained on display. However, the Czech Presidency showed political leadership in particular when dealing with difficulties and in crisis management. In this regard in particular there were considerable shortcomings: a 20-day energy crisis in Europe during the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine could have been overcome in one way or another; management of the Middle East crisis was, in my opinion, more than a little clumsy. And if the US missile shield in the Czech Republic was not bad enough, dependence on the US was also reflected in the Presidency, for example in the way that the Israeli offensive in Gaza was trivialised as defensive action. Even the Treaty of Lisbon was only half-heartedly criticised and delayed by the Prague leadership. As a result, we missed an important opportunity to bring more democracy back into the European Union. The fact that ultimately no agreement could be reached between Slovenia and Croatia with regard to the sea borders is also extremely regrettable. After all, Croatia is no less prepared for accession to the EU than the ten new Member States were at the time of their accession. On the contrary, it may even be better prepared. Even more regrettable, in my opinion, is the fact that Sweden does not wish to continue the attempts at conciliation. Croatia does not deserve that. Overall, our conclusions about the success of the Czech Presidency are somewhat mixed.
| null |
Jan Fischer
|
EU Council President
|
N/A
|
en
|
cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to respond very briefly on behalf of the Council and the former Czech Presidency. Firstly – on a personal note – to be confronted with the atmosphere of a Parliament, whether the Czech Parliament or the European Parliament, is always a great lesson for a man who is essentially a specialist and who has strong academic leanings. It is a lesson in how different ideas can be at times concerning the speed and intensity of European integration, or the nature of the EU. All of this simply reflects the very broad spectrum of your views and I think it is part and parcel of true democracy. I would therefore like to thank you for expressing your views and ultimately also for the critical suggestions which you have presented here. As far as the speech of Mr Kósa is concerned, I do not wish to comment on it in detail, but I think it reflects the importance of our motto ‘Europe without barriers’ and I hope that the EU will continue to live up to this motto. I firmly believe that the measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the very severe economic and financial crisis were adequate and sensible at the time of their adoption. Criticisms have been levelled here at the pace of financial market regulation. We have adopted fundamental measures in this area and they were agreed on after a very serious, challenging and controversial debate, where we juggled with the details right up to the European Council in June, producing a result which perhaps did not satisfy everyone, as there are some who consider the world to be over-regulated. We are nevertheless ready for the Commission’s draft legislative solutions to financial market regulation and banking supervision in a European format this autumn. The fact that there have been no manifestations of protectionism is – I repeat again – of fundamental importance, as is the fact that we have managed to agree on applying the principles of solidarity, especially towards certain countries where the economy has got into the greatest difficulties. I will be meeting with President Klaus this evening and I will convey to him the praises of the honourable Member. Otherwise, the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon in the Czech Republic has of course proceeded fully in accordance with the Czech constitution. The treaty was ratified in both chambers of parliament and we await the signature of the President of the Republic. I hope it will be final, decisive and correct. The fact that no referendum was held in the Czech Republic to ratify the Treaty is entirely an internal matter for the Czech Republic and is a matter fully compatible and fully in conformity with the Czech constitution. This ends my digression into domestic affairs. I would like to thank the many speakers who praised the level of continuity achieved by the Czech Presidency. Personally I considered it a great challenge for my cabinet and for myself as well. It was a test for the new cabinet and for all of the ministers and the teams of specialists, and everyone passed the test with flying colours – as has already been pointed out in my own speech and in the appraisals of certain honourable Members. I regarded my one third share of the Presidency as a personal task and I am delighted that the Czech Presidency has carried if off with honour.
| null |
Zuzana Roithová
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Commission President, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud of the fact that the Czech Presidency will go down in the history of the EU as the model of an accommodating, professional, non-partisan and well prepared administration. In defiance of indiscriminate criticisms from the European media and the Czech opposition, the Czechs successfully managed to finalise agreements over dozens of legislative standards. The Czechs accomplished this at half time – before Parliament ended with the election period. The agreements covered, for example, roaming, the energy package and measures to combat the crisis. It was the Czechs who finally managed to crack the nut of introducing a lower VAT rate for labour-intensive services, which is a pro-growth and counter-crisis measure. The Czechs also managed not only to assist with the resumption of oil and gas supplies from Russia to Europe, but also to reach agreement on the Nabucco southern gas pipeline and to prepare it for signing together with the Commission President. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic will also go down in EU history as an example of political instability, because the social democrat Paroubek placed his own ambitions above the interests of the EU and – together with several turncoats – engineered the downfall of the Czech Government half way through its successful Presidency. I would like to thank the teams of Prime Ministers Topolánek and Fischer as well as the Czech mission in Brussels for their hard work in furthering the interests of the EU and the Czech Republic. The teams showed that these interests are not mutually exclusive, even in times of crisis. In addition, they convinced the French President, among others, that protectionism is a dirty word. I would like to congratulate you and all of us for that. I would now like to call on the Swedish Presidency to begin talks immediately over the suspension of Canadian visas for Czech citizens. I believe that these talks will also be a success. After all, solidarity is the greatest strength of the European Union.
| null |
Edite Estrela
|
MEP
|
S&D
|
en
|
pt
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, Prime Minister Fischer declared that the Czech Presidency was very successful. Mr Fischer, I regret to say that I do not agree. The Prime Minister will hold the least responsibility for this, but the Czech Presidency was not at all consensual. I would firstly mention the controversy about works of art, a controversy which was favourable to artists, but not to the Presidency. Then there was the domestic political instability, which tarnished the image of the European Union or, in other words, of all of us. Mr Fischer, it is true that the Czech Republic managed to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, but this is still missing the signature of President Václav Klaus, and we are all agreed that having a Euro-sceptic president while you are holding the Presidency of the European Union is no help at all. The Czech President sent out various signals of Euro-scepticism, primarily by refusing to use the EU flag. However, more important is his failure to sign the Treaty of Lisbon. This is an act of disrespect towards all of us and towards the people of Europe. However, the Czech Presidency was particularly wrong on the directive on maternity leave. I know what I am talking about, because I was the rapporteur for this report. The Presidency’s involvement in this issue was extremely negative and it was greatly assisted by Mrs Lulling, who boycotted the vote on my report. The Czech Presidency was against extending the duration of maternity leave to 20 weeks and it was against including paternity leave, which is essential to ensure that family responsibilities are shared between men and women and therefore to promote gender equality. Prime Minister, men are needed in the home just as much as women are needed in the labour market. Men have just as much right to see their children develop as women have to enjoy career success. Prime Minister, please do not devalue the rights of women or their skills.
| null |
Bairbre de Brún
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
ga
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, an overwhelming number of people voted against the Treaty of Lisbon last year, because it was believed that a better Europe could be achieved: a Europe that is democratic and responsible; a Europe that promotes the rights of workers, that defends public services and that seeks a positive role in the world. We are told that the European Council has agreed a package of legally binding guarantees that address the concerns of the Irish people, but what has been published is just a clarification of the Treaty of Lisbon. It does not change in any way the body or the substance. When we vote on this matter in October, we will be voting on the exact same Treaty that was rejected last year - without any amendment, without any additional matter, without any deletion. The exact same Treaty of Lisbon that 53% of the voters rejected. We need a new Treaty for a new era.
| null |
Mario Mauro
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
it
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am grateful to the Czech Presidency for its efforts, which can perhaps be interpreted precisely as a parable of the situation in which our institutions currently find themselves. We all recognise that the European Union is the only possible platform for tackling some of the major challenges we are facing. No one can think, for instance, that Malta on its own, or Italy with 5 000 km of coastline, can resolve the problems of immigration, just as so many other countries cannot resolve the problems linked to the supply of energy. However, it is precisely the affairs of the Czech Presidency – namely, contending with major internal difficulties, but also with a different interpretation of Europe – that give us a better understanding of what it is we are being asked to do. I have not brought any flags with me this morning, but I know this for sure: I distrust obtuse nationalism and I also distrust bureaucratic monsters that can rip the heart out of our political experience and make us forget what we are being asked to achieve. The truth is that we are paying the price for indecision. We are paying a tragic price for not having the courage to take certain decisions that, today, are momentous decisions, and this is perhaps also reflected in the fact that we do not have the strength right now to tackle the most immediate circumstances, which are those linked to the start of a very problematic new parliamentary term. However, I believe that we have a great opportunity. Some did better than others in these elections, but we all know for certain that we will be unable to rise to any challenges if we do not work together. I therefore believe that we must assume our responsibilities and give these institutions the strength to be able to reconnect with our citizens, because one thing is certain: what we are paying for most is the fact that we are paying in the first place, because this leads to the estrangement of our citizens, who are distancing themselves from our ideals.
| null |
Jiří Havel
|
MEP
|
S&D
|
en
|
cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Prime Minister, Madam President, Commission President, ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here in order to evaluate the previous Presidency. This Presidency had two faces. Let us not forget either of them, even if there are some things we would perhaps like to forget. Many people here complain that the Czech Presidency was not active enough in combating the financial crisis. Others recall the controversial parliamentary speech of President Klaus. Others yet complain about the tactless description of Barack Obama’s crisis programme as a road to hell. However, the Czech Presidency was also connected with some definite progress. Let us recall, for instance, the environmental package and the progress over adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Czech Presidency had two faces and symbolically it had two premiers. Today the more successful of the two stands before you. Prime Minister, I would like to thank you and your government for the efforts you have made and I would like to thank the officials at European and Czech institutions for the work they have done. Ladies and gentlemen, a big hand please for the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.
| null |
Joe Higgins
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
ga
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Madam President, this Parliament is dominated by a cynical grand coalition between the principal party of European capitalism, the EPP, and the Social Democrats masquerading as a left but in reality implementing the same neo-liberal agenda of forcing working people to pay for the current crisis of international capitalism. Now this grand coalition wants the Lisbon Treaty forced on the Irish people and the people of Europe because Lisbon represents the neo-liberal agenda – including attacks on workers’ rights – and the enhancement of militarisation and the armaments industry. The so-called guarantees given to the Irish people change nothing, mean nothing and are irrelevant. As an Irish Socialist, I challenge this coalition. I challenge President Buzek, Mr Barroso, Mr Schulz, and Mr Verhofstadt: come to Ireland in September, debate with us in front of audiences of workers why they should support your Lisbon project, which is entirely hostile to their interests. Be prepared for a vigorous campaign against the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland. We will be speaking on behalf of the millions of Europeans who did not have a chance to vote against the Treaty of Lisbon, a Treaty that is not for the benefit of the majority of the people of Europe, but for the benefit of bureaucrats, of large corporations and of military industries.
| null |
Manfred Weber
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, Prime Minister, President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, during this debate many people have expressed their gratitude to the Czech Presidency for the fact that it has still managed to complete a few projects, in administrative terms, by the end of its term of office. I ask myself in all seriousness: have we really become so modest in our expectations? We are in the business of politics. What we actually expect, in the greatest economic crisis for decades which is combined with environmental challenges, is a Presidency which shows leadership and vision. That is what we really expect. We have seen that the administrative work has been completed for what is still on the table at end of the term of office. I really would have expected more. Prime Minister, if you meet with President Klaus this evening, please tell him that had an opportunity during these six months to make the Czech national identity and sovereignty clear to Europe by showing strong leadership. He did of course promote the importance of national sovereignty here in Parliament. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity.
| null |
Mairead McGuinness
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President we have only a minute so I shall dispense with the pleasantries. I should like to defend your honour against one of my Irish colleagues, Joe Higgins. I would remind Mr Higgins that you, in your work in the Solidarity movement, defended workers and their rights, and I think the historical facts should be reflected it in this House. A little bit of controversy is no bad thing but it is quite extraordinary that this morning we have Nigel Farage on the one side and Sinn Féin and Joe Higgins on the other side – the extremes of the right and left –talking against the Lisbon Treaty. I think that should be a good enough reason for the rest of us to vote ‘yes’ to the Lisbon Treaty and for Irish voters, who will be making up their own minds on 2 October, to listen to the voices who are urging them to vote ‘no’ and to listen very carefully to judge what they stand for, and then to listen to the voices of reason and reflect on the fact that the European Union has been very good for Ireland and Ireland good for it, and that we will continue to remain at the heart of Europe by supporting this Treaty.
| null |
Jean-Pierre Audy
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, Mr Fischer, Mr Barroso, your Presidency, Mr Fischer, shows, once again, how urgent it is for the European Union to have a stable presidency. Moreover, this is what the Treaty of Lisbon provides for. I have found you to be rather quiet, Mr Fischer, and I should like to know your opinion of the programme of the Troika, which your government signed in June 2008 with France and Sweden. We are also eager to hear about Sweden’s work programme on this subject, and on three issues in particular: the Doha Programme, the Millennium Development Goals and the Union for the Mediterranean. What is your feeling, Mr Fischer, about this instrument and what is your assessment of the Troika, which is already the first sign of a stable presidency of the European Union?
| null |
Zoltán Balczó
|
MEP
|
NI
|
en
|
hu
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the short, sharp exchange which took place between group leader Mr Farage and President Barroso was extremely enlightening from the perspective of Europe’s future. It made it glaringly obvious that the ultimate destination of the course being mapped out by the Treaty of Lisbon was the abolition of the nation states, which also explains why President Barroso would have been annoyed at seeing a national flag in this Chamber. We share, of course, the same common European objective. But, in doing so, we want to make it clear that, instead of proclaiming the slogan given here, ‘United in diversity’, we want to strive for cooperation in diversity, which means that we are in favour of preserving the nation states. This is the framework within which we want to work for a single Europe.
| null |
Elmar Brok
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, I would like to state once again that, under conditions for which neither Prime Minister Topolánek nor Prime Minister Fischer was responsible, the Council Presidency was more successful than it appears to have been, and I would also like to thank Saša Vondra for preparing for this Presidency. I would like to make one further comment and that is in response to Mr Higgins. The Treaty of Lisbon contains a horizontal social clause. It gives us more social rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. If we do not get this Treaty, we will have a Europe with fewer social rights. I believe that this should be made clear, so that the people of Ireland cannot be told any more lies. We should tell the truth. Without the Treaty of Lisbon we are left with the Treaty of Nice and with fewer social rights in Europe. We should therefore stop this awful campaign and tell the people of Ireland the truth. (Applause)
| null |
Bernd Posselt
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, I would like to point out that the Czech Presidency has not only achieved more than it has been given credit for, but that it was also very varied. First-rate officials and outstanding ministers, such as Karel Schwarzenberg, Saša Vondra, Ondřej Liška and others, as well as Prime Minister Fischer have done an excellent job. I would like to thank them for that. This country has only one problem and that is President Klaus, who has seriously damaged his country by consciously and deliberately undermining this successful Presidency. I would like to thank Prime Minister Fischer for the masterful way in which he rejected this, went to the Brussels Summit himself and successfully concluded this Council Presidency.
| null |
Jan Fischer
|
EU Council President
|
N/A
|
en
|
cs
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this time my response really will be very brief. I would like to thank you for your contributions to the discussion. They have demonstrated once again the diversity of opinion and breadth of different ideas in Europe; how difficult and yet how necessary it is to look for some sort of common denominator and common voice. However, I believe that this diversity is invigorating for our continent and for the process of integration and that it belongs here. You will doubtless be carrying your positions, your analytical viewpoints and your assessments with you from this place and perhaps there is no scope for me to convince you otherwise, since this is not an academic debate. Both my government and – let it be said - the previous government really did everything possible to fulfil our programme and our agenda for the Presidency and we did it with great perseverance, regardless of the progress made by the Czech Republic in ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon. I would like to make that very clear. As far as the troika is concerned and the work of the troika involving France, the Czech Republic and Sweden, I value this mechanism highly. We were able to cooperate very closely on the day-to-day agendas. It is a mechanism which contributes enormously to the continuity and smooth handover of the Presidency and I appreciate it very much. As far as the ambitions of the Czech Presidency are concerned and the extent to which the Presidency was technocratic, showed leadership, was visionary or whatever – I am sure it began with a vision for the EU and with a programme and also that it succeeded in fulfilling that programme. It is up to you to judge the extent to which this was achieved. For my part, however, I remain firm in the belief that this was a Presidency which fulfilled its goals and ambitions, although there will always be some criticisms and some areas where – for whatever reason – we fell short. Once again, I would like to thank you for the debate and for the critical remarks, and I would like to thank all of you who showed understanding and appreciation, both on a political level and on a personal level. Once again, I wish you every success in your work.
| null |
José Manuel Barroso
|
EU Commission President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, some concrete questions were raised. First of all, regarding the reintroduction of visa requirements for nationals of the Czech Republic travelling to Canada, the Commission regrets that Canada has reintroduced this visa requirement. I discussed this issue with the Canadian Prime Minister in the margins of the last G8 meeting. I expect this measure to be temporary and I hope that full visa travel between the Czech Republic and Canada will be established soon. I asked Commissioner Barrot to meet Czech officials to discuss this urgently, and I understand that the first meeting between Commission officials and Czech foreign affairs officials took place in Brussels yesterday. On that basis, the Commission will examine the situation carefully and will report on this in the visa reciprocity report that will be issued, probably, in September 2009. In cooperation with the Czech Government, we will consult the Canadian authorities in order to get more information on the reasons behind their decision and we will make all the necessary efforts to restore visa-free travel. Concerning the issue of the regulation and supervision of the financial market, which was also raised during the debate, of course there is still an agenda to complete, namely what was adopted at the European Council as a consensus based on the de Larosière report – a report I commissioned from that high-level group – but we also have to take note of the progress that has been made. The Commission proposals on capital requirements, deposit guarantees, credit-rating agencies and on the Solvency Directive for the insurance sector have all been adopted by the European Parliament and by the Council. The Commission has presented draft legislation on hedge funds and private equity, on securitisation and remuneration in the banking sector. It is now for the European Parliament and the Council to adopt them – if they agree – rapidly. Another point that was mentioned during the debate was the issue of resistance to protectionism. In fact, it was a very important topic at the 1 March European Council. During the last half of 2008 there was a dangerous drive for some protectionist internal measures in the European Union. I think it is fair to say that the Czech Presidency and many Member States made it clear that we cannot accept this kind of fragmentation of our internal market, so the discussion that took place during those months was also a very important development. Finally, concerning the critics of the parliamentary ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, let me tell you I cannot understand how someone who has been elected to a parliament can call into question the parliamentary ratification of a treaty. A parliament is the basis of democracy and ratification by parliament is as legitimate as a referendum. (Applause)
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
I would like to say once again to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic: thank you very much for your presidency, for your summary and for your participation in the debate here today.
| null |
João Ferreira
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
pt
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Outcome of the European Council (18-19 June 2009) - Term in office of the Czech Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
The world is facing one of the most serious crises of capitalism, with dramatic consequences for workers and people in general. In the EU, this crisis is the result of neoliberal policies which are still being pursued. These policies are enshrined in the Treaties and in the so-called ‘Lisbon Strategy’, which the Treaty of Lisbon is trying to institutionalise, with greater depth and scope. Instead of properly tackling the causes of the crisis, the Council is reiterating the fundamental lines of those policies which caused the crisis, in what constitutes a worrying and irresponsible attempt to continue with these policies despite all the evidence. As a result, the Council is supporting: - the intention to adopt the Treaty of Lisbon, now by means of deception, which involves passing off exactly the same thing, which has already been rejected by the Irish people, as something different; - free and unregulated movement of capital and the existence of offshore financial centres; - liberalisation of the markets, privatisation of public services and growing financialisation of the economy; - deregulation of labour relations, devaluation of wages, intensification of exploitation and defence of flexicurity; - the failure to properly tackle unemployment, by persisting in channelling huge sums to support the financial sector, without paying the same attention to the productive sectors.
| null |
President
|
EUROPARL President
|
N/A
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
The next item is the statement by the President-in-Office of the Council on presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency.
| null |
Fredrik Reinfeldt
|
EU Council President
|
N/A
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, honourable Members, allow me first to congratulate you on the election of your new president. I am looking forward to working with Jerzy Buzek during the Swedish Presidency – and of course also in the time thereafter. It is an honour for me to address the European Parliament as President-in-Office of the European Council. I know that approaching half of you have been elected to this assembly for the first time. Collectively, you all give a voice to 500 million Europeans. There are great expectations of you. I am addressing you during a challenging period. Rarely has the EU cooperation faced harsher tests and tests so varied in nature. In the short term we aim to ensure a smooth transition to a new treaty – the Treaty of Lisbon. Now and in the slightly longer term, we must continue to manage the economic and financial crisis. Under the surface is the threat of a growing climate crisis which, in the long term, is the greatest challenge we face. One thing is clear. If the Swedish Presidency is to succeed in the many challenges facing it, we must work alongside you – you who work at the heart of European democracy. We hope for your support and cooperation, and that you are prepared to take on the challenges together with us. When we talk of the history of the EU, we tend to maintain that the cooperation has created a foundation for peace in a Europe that has so often been characterised by the opposite. I would like to tell you that my grandfather was a Swedish soldier posted to the Norwegian border during the Second World War – a war in which Sweden was neutral. The nearest my grandfather got to the war was to occasionally get a glimpse of it – from a safe distance. For a long time, that was Sweden’s relationship with Europe: observing from a distance. While Europe was left in ruins after the Second World War, Sweden was untouched. We were richer economically – but poor in terms of European community. Twenty years ago the barbed wire between Austria and Hungary was cut. The Berlin Wall came down, and Europe changed almost overnight. A number of countries then set out on the journey that resulted in representatives of 27 countries sitting in this room today. Sweden was one of these countries. If you are a late starter, you need time to catch up. In the late 1980s political commitment for Europe began to mature in Sweden. Slowly the realisation of Sweden’s closeness to and dependence on Europe grew. Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt played a decisive role in the work on bringing Sweden into the European community – in other words, accepting openness, globalisation and free trade. He was driven by a firm conviction that Sweden belonged in Europe. Eighteen years ago we made our application for membership of the European Union. We had finally matured in our conviction that people’s lives and our future could best be served by cooperation and community with others, that we had something to contribute – and that we had much to learn. We were no longer afraid of cooperating. We dared to be part of Europe. These years from the mid-1980s onwards, which were revolutionary for Sweden, ran in parallel with a deepening of my own political commitment. I had a strong yearning for Europe, as did many of my generation of Swedish politicians. I remember how as a young, newly elected member of the Swedish parliament I was invited to visit the European Parliament. It was a sign of Parliament’s openness and accessibility – despite the fact that at that time Sweden was not a member of the Union. A few years later, in 1997, after Sweden had joined the Union, I was involved in putting together the PPE Group’s youth organisation, Youth of EPP, and I myself became its first chairman. It enabled me to see how European cooperation worked in practice. Together we sought European solutions to European problems. We got to know not only each other, but also each other’s history and culture. It enabled me to get to know the capital cities of Europe – and I can hardly count the number of churches I visited in Europe in the process. In 20 years Sweden has gone from observing at a distance to being an active part of the European cooperation. This has in turn had an effect on the Swedish population. Ten years ago, one in three Swedes thought EU membership was good for the country, but just as many thought the opposite. Today that has reversed. Nearly two in three Swedes believe that EU membership is good for Sweden. In the elections to the European Parliament in June, more that 45 per cent of Swedes turned out to vote. That is eight per cent more than in 2004, and it is above the average for Europe. Today Sweden is a country that appreciates and takes a positive view of EU membership. We woke up to it a bit late, but we have worked hard to catch up. That is a victory for all of us who believe in European cooperation. (Applause) Mr President, honourable Members, we are facing the question of the fate of our generation – a social problem which, unlike many others, is growing slowly – and only in the wrong direction. Our planet has a fever. Its temperature is rising – and it is up to us to react. The Greenland icecap is shrinking by more than 100 cubic kilometres every year. The icecap in the Western Antarctic is melting at an increasingly fast rate. We know that the shrinking Greenland ice alone could result in an increase in sea levels of up to two metres. The effects will be dramatic. If the sea level were to rise by just one metre around the world, a hundred million people would be forced to leave their homes in Asia alone. The most vulnerable are those in Bangladesh, eastern China and Vietnam. There would also be other serious consequences, however. The weather will change, with the risk that many species of flora and fauna could become extinct. This is the case even if we stay within the 2 °C target set by the UN, which was backed last week both by the G8 and by the Major Economies Forum in L’Aquila. Our climate is under threat from both our use of and our dependence on fossil fuels. That is the bad news. So what is the good news? Although time is short, it is still on our side. We must act now, however. We already have everything in place to expand renewable energy and the technology to improve energy efficiency. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), more than half of the measures required in order not to exceed the 2 °C target can be taken using the technology we already have. Moreover, measures to counter climate change have very useful side effects – effects which in themselves justify the measures. If we consume less energy, we will save money. We will improve public finances while at the same time households will have greater resources. If we invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we will improve our energy security. We will be less dependent on imports from countries that are sometimes both politically and economically unstable. Our investments in the green economy will create new job opportunities and drive growth in the decades ahead. Allow me to give a specific example. In January, many EU countries were affected by the gas crisis in Ukraine. Last week I spoke to President Yushchenko concerning how we can try to avoid a similar thing happening again. At the same time, it is important to be able to turn the viewpoint around. If Ukraine invested in energy efficiency so that the country reached the same level as the Czech Republic or Slovenia, the amount of energy saved would correspond to the entire country’s gas imports for its own use from Russia. Ukraine could then become completely independent of gas imports from Russia and save a great deal of money besides – simply by improving its own energy efficiency. This is where we must seek the answers where the climate is concerned. (Applause) Twelve years ago a coalition of the willing was formed in Kyoto. However, voluntary agreements are not enough. If we are to succeed in getting an international agreement on climate change in place, then the journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen must move from being a coalition of the willing to being everyone’s responsibility. So how do we get there? Europe must act together and collectively. We must show leadership and keep our promises. Europe is crucial to getting others to join an international agreement. All over the world we must set a price on emissions. We must start using national carbon taxes and emissions trading. The environmentally friendly alternatives will then emerge. If the price of using fossil fuels is set without regard to climate impact, global warming will continue. The alternatives will not emerge. Measures to increase energy efficiency will not become economically worthwhile. That is not enough, however. We need to have a wider answer to the question of ‘how?’. It is not enough to limit emissions in a group of countries that voluntarily agree to reductions, but which together account for just 30 per cent of emissions. Neither is it sufficient to have solutions that are based only on restrictions in the most developed countries. Even if the so-called Annex I countries were to reduce their emissions to zero, the rapidly growing emissions of the developing countries would still take us above the 2 °C target. That is why we must discuss the financing of investments in the developing countries. We need to ensure rapid technology transfer and we need to make sure that the developing countries also make commitments to check the development for which they are currently heading. In addition, we will need clear commitments in the medium term for countries outside Europe too. The responsibility of the few must now become the responsibility of all. I know that the European Parliament will accept its responsibility. The Swedish Presidency sees you as our allies. We now want to write the story of how the climate threat was averted, and we want to write it together with you. Mr President, honourable Members, the economic and financial crisis spread like wildfire around the world within the space of a few weeks. Some people had given warnings, but for most people it came as a surprise – particularly its extent and depth. In a global world, problems also spread quickly to others. The force of the downturn is such that nobody has a miracle cure for getting out of it quickly. Coordinated action on the part of the EU is the best tool we have to meet the challenges of the crisis. Moreover, there is still much that can go wrong. In the circumstances, the EU has succeeded in showing leadership through these testing times. We agreed on guarantees and rules of the road for supporting the banks. We agreed on a common recovery plan to stimulate the economy. President Sarkozy and the French Presidency played an important part in this work, but I would also assert that the European Parliament was a driving force. Now we need to devote the autumn to discussing continued measures to take us through the crisis. The economic situation remains difficult, and public finances are now stretched in all the Member States. According to the Commission’s forecasts, the deficit within the EU will exceed 80 per cent of GDP next year. We cannot close our eyes and pretend that it is not a problem. In the middle of all this we must not forget either that behind these figures are people who are concerned about their jobs and who are wondering how they will manage to pay for their homes and to maintain their standard of living. It is our task to answer them. When millions of Europeans lose their jobs and become excluded, our entire welfare comes under threat, and this at a time when our welfare is already under great pressure. We are living longer, while at the same time we are working less and having fewer children. If this trend continues, in 50 years’ time there will be twice as many older people as children in Europe. So what can we do? We must restore confidence in the financial markets. We must quickly get effective supervision in place to prevent similar crises occurring in the future. The Swedish Presidency will work towards agreement on this in the Council by the end of the year. We are hoping for your help in achieving this quickly and conclusively. Our citizens will not accept the repeated use of tax revenues to rescue financial institutions that have acted irresponsibly. We must rapidly get ourselves out of the growing public deficits through a coordinated exit strategy and a gradual return to the rules of the Stability Pact. Otherwise, short-term imbalances will be followed by chronic deficits. Large cuts await us, as are already a reality in parts of the EU; and we have previous experience of this in Sweden. Mass unemployment, social unrest and growing tax pressure then await us. We must ensure a social dimension to European policy that is based on healthy public finances and on getting more people into the labour market. This is by far the best way to safeguard our welfare system. I know that this is an important matter not least here in the European Parliament. It is unsustainable for three out of 10 Europeans of working age to be excluded from the labour market. Our aim must be an active labour market policy that, together with well-functioning social security systems, is able to manage change effectively. We must strengthen the individual’s employability and ability to assert him- or herself in the labour market. In addition, we must activate and reactivate the unemployed. With more people in work there will be more support available for those who are not. We must also concentrate on reforms, modernisation and adaptation to a new reality. The world outside the EU is not standing still. It is moving forward at a tremendous rate. That is something we should acknowledge and accept. A review of the EU’s Lisbon strategy could contribute to a necessary reform agenda. We will initiate this discussion in the autumn. In the wake of the economic crisis we can see ideas of increased protectionism. The WTO confirms that the number of trade-restricting measures has increased considerably in the past three months. Consequently, I welcome the L’Aquila agreement on restarting the Doha round – in order to ensure that the countries of the world again take the free trade-friendly path that we know benefits us all in the long run. The objective must be an EU that comes out of this crisis stronger. Mr President, honourable Members, when I travel around Sweden and talk about EU cooperation, I get few questions about the institutions of the EU. The questions instead tend to concern curved cucumbers, snuff and other everyday matters. Nonetheless, the institutional framework is important because it defines what we can do and in which areas. That is why the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon is so central. The Treaty will make the EU more democratic, more transparent, more effective and more influential in the international arena. Most important of all, however, is the fact that having the Treaty of Lisbon in place will close the chapter on an inward-looking phase of EU cooperation. It is now time for the EU to look outwards and forwards. The Swedish Presidency is prepared to carry out all the preparatory work to ensure a smooth transition to a new Treaty, but naturally that requires the Treaty to have been ratified by all the Member States. Let us hope that that becomes a reality in the months ahead. International criminality is growing ever stronger. Criminal networks no longer see their activities bounded by national borders. We can see how the drugs trade and human trafficking are spreading. This is a threat to our democratic values and a threat to our citizens. At the same time, the freedom to move freely across borders is fundamental to our community – to study, work and live in another EU country. New times call for new answers, however. Consequently, this autumn we will draw up a new programme in this area that we will call the Stockholm Programme. The Stockholm Programme will sharpen the instruments that create security in the EU and that fight organised crime and terrorism. At the same time, we will create a better balance between these instruments and the measures that ensure legal certainty and that protect the rights of individuals. It will also ensure that those seeking asylum in the EU face a common, legally certain system – with greater consistency in the way they are received and the way their case for asylum is examined and greater consistency as regards repatriation policy. The dream of a future in Europe is a strong one for many people. At the same time, the population of Europe is getting older and older. A flexible system for labour immigration could bring together these two realities. Mr President, honourable Members, just over 50 years ago six countries laid the foundation for European cooperation. There are now 27 of us. We have grown in strength and influence, and we have grown in prosperity and diversity. Europe has been enriched. As a result, we are also better equipped both to exploit the opportunities presented by globalisation and to meet its challenges. Together we are strong. We talk of membership ‘negotiations’. In the final event, however, membership is about sharing common values and following common rules. This is currently being pondered on by those that remain outside – from Reykjavik to Ankara via the western Balkans. The two leaders on Cyprus are facing a historical opportunity to agree a solution that will reunite the island that has been divided for far too long. For those inside, there is a temptation to allow the membership process to become an opportunity to resolve long drawn out disputes. In such cases we must find solutions that benefit both sides and open up the way ahead. Otherwise we jeopardise our progress towards our aim of continued European integration. The Swedish Presidency will work to advance the enlargement process in accordance with the commitments made by the EU, and strictly on the basis of the applicable criteria. We will act as an ‘honest broker’. Mr President, honourable Members, with strength and influence comes an international responsibility that we are still striving to shoulder. It is accompanied by a duty to use this responsibility in everyone’s best interest. The EU must work for peace, freedom, democracy and human rights. We have a responsibility to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries of the world, a responsibility to live up to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. We also have a responsibility to support the work of the UN in other areas, to work together with our strategic partners, to become involved in the world’s crisis hotspots – whether it is the peace process in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea or the great challenges on the African continent. However, we also have a responsibility for regional initiatives such as the Mediterranean Union and the eastern partnership that are creating stability and cooperation between neighbouring countries with different circumstances. I am particularly grateful for the European Parliament’s driving role where the Baltic Sea cooperation is concerned. Parliament presented a draft strategy for the region back in 2005. We now hope that this initiative can be crowned with the adoption of a Baltic Sea Strategy at the European Council meeting in October. The conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s became the starting point for the EU’s involvement as crisis manager – an involvement that is now continually growing. Today the EU is involved in 10 or so crisis initiatives around the world. These days the world’s problems come knocking on the EU’s door. All around our world – and not least in the areas closest to us – many people’s hope for their own development is linked to our cooperation. Let us together meet their expectations. (Applause) Mr President, honourable Members, as a result of European cooperation, today our continent lives in peace and prosperity, in freedom and stability. We have open borders and a social model that combines a market economy with consideration for each other. This is our shared Europe. Our citizens also want to know, however, that Europe is borne by ideas for the future and that our cooperation not only has a historical purpose but is also forward-looking. That is why we, as their elected representatives, have a responsibility to say what we want to do with Europe. Let me tell you how I see the Europe of the future. I want to see a Europe that acts forcefully for democracy, peace, freedom and human rights in the international arena and which dares to act on the foreign policy stage. For there are those among us with experience of what it is like to live without democracy and freedom, which gives us the credibility to act. I want to see a Europe that takes the lead in the fight against climate threats, which resists the temptation to compete on the basis of an industry that does not pay for the emissions that are destroying our climate and which provides incentives that make green technology worthwhile, so that our children and our children’s children get to experience nature as we know it. I want to see a Europe that takes responsibility for the economy. ‘Lending for spending’ cannot be the only motto. Neither can it be the case that ‘profits are private and losses national’. Let us build up our public finances again, regulate sound financial markets, and secure the economic reforms that we need for growth and for industry that will continue to be competitive in the future. I want to see a Europe that develops its social model further, a Europe that combines a well-functioning welfare system with growth – with social cohesion, a Europe that through work, enterprise and healthy public finances creates room to maintain and develop our welfare models, in the best interests of all our citizens. I want to see a Europe that does not allow itself to be lured by the short-term crusades of protectionism, a Europe that safeguards the internal market that formed the basis of our EU cooperation and that allows goods and services to flow freely across our borders, for the benefit of ourselves and of the rest of the world. I want to see a Europe that is humbled by inequalities, that is open to the arguments of others and that has a strong will to find compromises, all to serve the common interest. Such a Europe will be strong whatever the times. (Applause) Mr President, honourable Members, it is an honour for me to stand here with you and represent European democracy. Many people have said to me that this will be the most difficult presidency for many years. There are many challenges, and we must prepare for the unexpected. Many ask whether a country the size of Sweden can shoulder this responsibility. Not alone – but together we can face these challenges. Let us do so with vision and drive, with initiative and courage. Europe needs it. The people of Europe need it. The European project is about the dream of solving people’s problems together. This dream makes Europe strong. This year, 2009, is a fateful year for European cooperation. We have the chance to take the next step. The Swedish Presidency is ready to take on the challenge. Let us take it on together! (Loud applause)
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José Manuel Barroso
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EU Commission President
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N/A
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en
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en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, these are no ordinary times and this will be no ordinary presidency. In addition to the usual legislative work, the Swedish Presidency will have other kinds of highly political challenges to deal with, and no one better to tackle these challenges than Prime Minister Reinfeldt and the Swedish Presidency team. Today I want to highlight two of the biggest policy challenges facing the European Union in the next six months: dealing with the economic crisis and negotiating an ambitious international agreement on climate change in Copenhagen. The worst financial and economic crisis in living memory continues to have devastating effects within our communities and families, with unemployment in particular continuing to rise. Getting the economy back on track remains the top priority. The European Union’s collective action has led to an unprecedented fiscal effort that is producing concrete results. We have also shown solidarity amongst Member States, for instance by doubling the ceiling for balance of payments support for non-eurozone Member States to EUR 50 billion. We now need to fully implement the recovery package in all its aspects and make sure it translates into the creation of jobs and the promotion of economic activity on the ground. I believe it is essential to prioritise measures that limit unemployment and get people back to work. Here we can build on the results of the employment summit held in May as part of a Commission initiative with the Czech, Swedish and Spanish Presidencies. We need to put into practice the shared commitment to youth and to employment. Of course, responsibility for labour market policies lies with Member States, but we can and should use existing European instruments to help Member States keep people in employment and train them for the jobs of the future. That is why the European Commission is about to make a proposal to simplify Structural Fund procedures and waive the need for national cofinancing from the European Social Fund for 2009 and 2010. We will also redeploy resources in order to fund a new microcredit facility for employment and social inclusion. I hope this Parliament will support these proposals. The Commission proposals building on the de Larosière report I commissioned last October will form the basis for strengthened financial market supervision and regulation. With the proposals already made – many of them already approved by this Parliament and by the Council, some still in our decision-making process – we are indeed taking the lead globally in the reform of the financial international system. We will continue to do so, I am sure, at the G20 in Pittsburgh in September. Moving all these dossiers forward over the next six months is essential to build a new economy, because – let us make no mistake – the post-crisis economy cannot and will not be the same as the pre-crisis economy. We need to rebuild our economic model and put the values back at the heart of our social market economy, where they belong. We need to build an economy and a society based on opportunity, responsibility and solidarity, an economy which will have to reinvent new sources of growth because we cannot rely for ever on monetary and fiscal stimulus; a Europe of open and well-performing markets; a Europe of smart, green growth; a Europe with more effective regulation and supervision of financial markets; a Europe that deepens its single market and uses its potential to the full; a Europe that resists the trends for fragmentation or protectionism. Concerning climate change, Europe is already the first region in the world to implement far-reaching, legally binding climate and energy targets. I am proud of the way the Commission worked with the last Parliament and the Council to put this legislation in place, and I want to work closely with you and the Presidency in the run-up to Copenhagen. Our leadership role was very much appreciated in the meetings last week in L’Aquila in the G8, and in the Major Economies Forum. You will have heard about the progress made at these meetings. For the first time, all participants committed to capping the temperature increase at 2°C to respect climate science. This is certainly a welcome step forward, but we should not delude ourselves: our ambition and our commitment are not yet matched by others. Europe is far ahead of the curve in relation to the rest of the world and, frankly, 145 days from Copenhagen, that worries me. In the coming weeks we will step up our work with international partners to secure clear commitments in Copenhagen. We also need to make progress on the necessary means to support developing countries and boost technology transfer. In September the Commission will put its proposals for financing on the table so that we can build a European consensus and negotiate with others. The climate change agenda is, of course, closely linked with another priority: energy security. Today, the Commission will adopt proposals to strengthen our rules governing the security of gas supply and reinforcing solidarity between Member States, which I trust the Swedish Presidency will take forward with your support. These are the headline priorities – and rightly so. But there is plenty of other important work to be done over the next six months. Let me just flag the Stockholm programme, where the Commission has recently tabled an ambitious vision putting the citizen at the heart of our justice, freedom and security policy, balancing security with the protection of civil liberties and fundamental rights. For most of this decade the European Union has been engaged in internal institutional debates. Changes to our governing Treaty are absolutely necessary to equip the enlarged European Union to work democratically and effectively. I hope that we will see the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the coming months so that we can put its provisions to work and so that we can move on with the policy agenda I have just outlined. It is important to discuss procedure, but I believe it is even more important to discuss substance. The Swedish Presidency, as well as the next Spanish Presidency, will have to oversee – hopefully – a complex transition to the new Treaty in which the Commission and Parliament will have to play their full part. The European Union has constantly reinvented itself, from the initial vocation of healing a war-torn continent to the building of the internal market and then on to the reunification of Europe. During these last 50 years Europe has consistently exceeded expectations, confounding doubts. I am sure that we will also rise to the new challenge we face: laying the foundations for the smart, green economy of the future. We will succeed if we respect the key lesson from half a century of European integration: the European Union advances when all its parts cooperate in a spirit of openness, trust and partnership. The Swedish Presidency programme recognises this; the European Commission stands ready to play its part and so, I am sure, does this Parliament. (Applause)
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Joseph Daul
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MEP
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PPE
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en
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fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, I do not usually address you, but for the first time today, I am going to devote one minute to you. Firstly, Mr Buzek, I salute you as a man of resistance and as one of the founders of Solidarność, as the man from Silesia who never forgot his roots, his history or his values. The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) is also proud to have convinced the vast majority of MEPs from all political backgrounds – Mr Schulz included – to make you the spokesman for 500 million citizens. Yes, Mr President, your election is the symbol of this open Europe, of this tolerant Europe, of this political Europe championed by the PPE Group and by the majority of our fellow Members here present. President-in-Office of the Council, President of the Commission, what we expect of you is that you will make action the dominant theme of the Swedish Presidency over the next six months – in other words, faced with the twin challenge of the economy and climate change, we are saying that we need to do more, and faster, in order to come out of the crisis, by bringing our social market economy model fully into operation. I firmly believe that it is the vitality of the economy and that alone that will enable us to conduct the true social policy that we need. If we want a recovery and if we want it to come from Europe and not from Asia, as is anticipated, then we absolutely must speed things up today. When the crisis ends, the winners will be those who gambled on innovation, on training – in short, on action. In this regard, the PPE Group proposes, among other things, to increase the support given to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are key to maintaining and creating jobs. Furthermore, the economic crisis – I would insist on this point – requires not a national response but a European response. Moreover, our fellow citizens are convinced of this, one need only look at the opinion polls in the various countries: more than 66% of Germans and more than 70% of Europeans are convinced. To do more, and faster, Mr Reinfeldt, Mr Barroso, that is also what the PPE Group expects of you where the fight against global warming is concerned. It is the responsibility of Europe, under your leadership, to lead the world in this action, which everyone here recognises as being urgent and a priority. And what better opportunity to act and to speed things up than the climate-change conference to be held in December in Copenhagen, in other words, on our own territory! On the issue of climate change, Europe has proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that it can take action when it wants to. The task now is to capitalise on this, to make the other world powers join us. I am of course thinking of the United States, which must turn its words into deeds, but I am also thinking of the emerging countries, be it China, India or Brazil, which can no longer ignore the fact that they are heavily responsible for global warming. We shall therefore judge the Swedish Presidency on the ways in which it copes with the crisis and in the light of its results regarding the environment. I shall conclude by saying that, in order to act strongly on these two fronts, Europe must be equipped with appropriate institutions. The last year has shown us that, with the same treaty and with the same outdated principle of unanimity, it was possible to make progress with Europe but that it was also possible to reach a deadlock. It is a question of political will, Mr Reinfeldt, Mr Barroso. Speed things up: that is what the PPE Group is asking you to do over the next six months, and we have faith in the Swedish Presidency. Speed things up: that is what Europeans asked for in electing this Parliament and that is what we must give them if, in five years’ time, we wish to see more of them turn out to vote. (Applause)
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Martin Schulz
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MEP
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S&D
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en
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de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
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2009
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Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
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Mr President, Prime Minister Reinfeldt, ladies and gentlemen, the Swedish Presidency comes at a time of new beginnings for the institutions. It is not only this Parliament that is starting anew; Europe is in a period of transition between the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Lisbon, and – as we all know – it is a time of uncertainty in which we nevertheless need clarity with regard to economic, financial, labour market and climate policy decisions in the European Union and its Member States. You have talked about this and I agree with much of what you said. Climate change is, of course, the most important issue and you have given it the right level of priority. It is, of course, also the case that the jobs crisis requires an immediate and relevant solution. Therefore, we ask you during your Presidency to urge the Member States to take the investment plans and the economic recovery plans more seriously than they have done so far. What we need above all is the safeguarding of jobs – now, not next year, as the threat to jobs is present here and now. Job security is vital for the internal stability of society. We therefore expect you to give the utmost priority to jobs and job security in whatever form, for example by combining environmental protection and industrial policy, which is a highly intelligent solution. On the subject of job security, I would like to say this to you, Mr Reinfeldt: what seriously jeopardises jobs in Europe and is an even greater threat to social cohesion is the case law of the European Court of Justice. As you have just said, you travel a lot in Sweden and in Europe. So do we and what we hear from our citizens is that they do not want a Europe where companies move from country to country cutting wage levels. We therefore need initiatives from the European Union. (Applause) We need these initiatives as a consequence of the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the Laval, Viking, Rüffert and Luxemburg cases. These are measures that you – and you in particular, because Sweden is affected by this misguided policy, this misguided case law – need to tackle during your Presidency. You also need to deal with another institutional issue, namely that of how the next Commission will be appointed. In this regard, I have to say that to some extent I get the general impression that not only you, but also all of your colleagues in the Council have been affected by the new institutional beginnings and the uncertainty about which Treaty we should actually be using as the basis for our actions, and that no one really knows where we are. It is a little bit like Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking in her Villa Villekulla – I will make the world the way I want it to be. Wonderful! If we appoint the President of the Commission on the basis of the Treaty of Nice, we will have 20 commissioners. In that case, I would like to know which country will have no commissioner. To this, the Council will naturally say ‘no, we certainly do not want to start a bloodbath behind closed doors. So, we have a wonderful solution – we will nominate the commissioner initially on the basis of the Treaty of Nice. It will take a couple of months for the Commission to be set up and by then the people of Ireland will have voted and we will have the Treaty of Lisbon. Then we can vote on everything else on the basis of the Treaty of Lisbon. Great!’ We are a community based on law – or at least that is what I thought until now – in which the basis is the law in force. The law in force is the Treaty of Nice. Incidentally, there is someone who, as guardian of the Treaties, must first of all clarify which legal basis is to be used. That is the President of the Commission, but I have not heard a word from him on this matter. I would therefore like to state very clearly what we are expecting. My proposal, Prime Minister, was that you should not take the formalisation decision straight away, but first send your candidate to Parliament so that he can tell us what he wants to do to restore the economy, safeguard jobs, combat climate change, introduce an employment pact, an initiative for a public services directive and an initiative to improve the Posting of Workers Directive and establish a guarantee between the Commission and Parliament regarding an evaluation of the social consequences of the Commission initiatives. We could have already discussed everything with the candidate weeks ago to see whether he would receive a majority vote in this House on the basis of his proposals. Then you could have made a decision regarding formalisation. However, you took a different route. You said ‘no we will take the formalisation decision first and then send the candidate’. I fear that this was another error and I also fear that this candidate, unless he makes a considerable effort, will not receive a majority vote in this House. (Applause) I would like to make this very clear so that what will probably be the biggest contentious issue during your Presidency is perfectly clear between us right from the start. We expect institutional clarity, we expect socio-political commitment, and I believe that we will be with you with regard to climate policy. Mr President, just for you I have kept to my speaking time exactly. You will see that in a few seconds my six minutes will be up. You will not need to reprimand me – I knew that that was what you intended to do and I did not want to give you that pleasure. (Applause)
| null |
Guy Verhofstadt
|
MEP
|
ALDE
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, firstly I should like to say to Mr Reinfeldt that our Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe will fully support the priorities of the Swedish Presidency, that is to say, the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, which we naturally expect to be implemented quickly and in full; the preparation for the climate-change summit in Copenhagen, which has already been mentioned and which is a priority that we fully support; and, lastly, the Stockholm Agenda. Furthermore, and this is the subject of my speech, Mr Reinfeldt, I should like to refer to an issue that is addressed in every speech in this House – the fight against the economic and financial crisis – in order to say to you that you are assuming the leadership of the European Council at a very precise moment in time. It is a good thing that it is Sweden that is chairing the Council because you have specific experience in this area. In the 1990s Sweden experienced exactly the same economic crisis that we are experiencing now throughout Europe and the world. You have experienced a crisis in the real estate sector. In the 1990s you also experienced a financial crisis, and you resolved all these problems by directly tackling the problems in the financial sector. My message to you is that you must act in exactly the same way today at European level because that is what we are lacking. We are trying to combat the economic and financial crises using 27 different approaches in the various countries, and that will never work. We expect you, Mr Reinfeldt, to use the experience you gained in Sweden, because it was a success, unlike in Japan, which has been economically stagnant for a long time. Sweden came out of the crisis because you immediately tackled the problems in the financial sector, something which is not being done for the time being in Europe. The thinking is that the United Kingdom can nationalise the banks while others – France, in particular – can recapitalise them. In Germany, work is under way to create ‘bad banks’; in the Benelux countries a bit of everything is being done at the same time. The result is that there is no single approach. The United States is stabilising its banks and eliminating the toxic products while we continue to have problems. My request to you, therefore, is to take advantage of your experience in order to present a single rescue plan for Europe’s financial sector, which will form the basis of the economic recovery. Without it, there will never be an economic recovery; the banks will not starting lending money again, and so on. This must be your absolute priority. The second point is that we hope that you, together with the Commission, can also present a new recovery plan, because 27 different recovery plans will not produce the necessary results in the coming years. It is absolutely essential that the Council and the Commission together take the lead in this. I know there are now 27 recovery plans at national level, but we see a number of protectionist measures inside those national plans. It is your responsibility, Mr Reinfeldt, to say to your colleagues that a better way to deal with this is, together with the Commission, to devise one single recovery plan and to invest in sustainable energy and in the new economy. I think that, with your experience in Sweden during the 1990s, you are the right man in the right place to do what we have not done so far: devise a single strategy in the European Union to combat this economic and financial crisis. (Applause)
| null |
Rebecca Harms
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, Mr Reinfeldt, Mr Barroso, my fellow Member Mr Schulz said everything there is to say about the institutional concerns that my group has had for a long time with regard to the forthcoming election of the President of the Commission. We agree with what he said. We want the whole of the Commission and all of the top-level staff of the European Union to be elected according to the conditions of the Treaty of Lisbon and we will not give an inch on that. However, Mr Barroso, I would like to take the opportunity to explain the political reasons behind my group’s doubts and its belief that you are not capable from a political point of view of doing what we feel to be necessary in the current situation in Europe. Take, for example, the frequently mentioned need for the new regulation of financial markets. We have had G8 summits, G20 summits, extended G8 summits, European summits. How far have we come? If we look at the picture today and draw a comparison with the game of Monopoly that we are all familiar with, the banks have been re-established, they have passed ‘go’ and did not go to jail, they have taken hundreds of millions with public approval and then simply started the game again. I do not think that people are being doom-mongers when they say that as a result of this the next crash is inevitable. Mr Barroso, what happened to your forceful intervention? Where are your genuine results? We have seen no evidence of them. (Applause) As regards climate policy, you know that during our entire European campaign we in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance have advocated the Green New Deal. We are absolutely convinced that it is utterly wrong to do what you have repeatedly done in the last five years, Mr Barroso, and that is to play economic strategies off against environmental and climate strategies. We believe this to be very much rooted in the past and it must stop. We need to think about economic development in a sustainable way and we must bring climate protection targets into line with environmental targets. That will benefit the economy and will create hundreds of thousands or even millions of jobs. Mr Piebalgs has demonstrated once again that this is the case in the energy sector in his study over recent months. In our experience, Mr Barroso, you are not in a position to set forth this Green New Deal. In summary, I can only say that, with regard to climate protection, Europeans have been conspicuous on the international stage in recent months as a result of their new-found hesitation – how far do we really want to go with the reduction targets? – and new tight-fistedness, and that, unfortunately, also applies to Sweden. The establishment of the International Climate Protection Fund for the poorer countries has gone extremely badly. The fact that it is still a secret that the Swedes want to take money from the development pots, for example, to put into this climate protection pot – that is a zero sum game and, from the point of view of the poorer countries, it is totally unacceptable. We must quickly put an end to this new tight-fistedness and new hesitancy in the European Union. (Applause) Finally, Mr Reinfeldt, I can say something positive. We are prepared to tussle with you over the new definition of the Lisbon strategy and to work with you on this. You have said you will do this by the end of the year. We will help you in this. We will also support you if you wish to do more with regard to Eastern Europe and Russia, but the focus on a genuine climate policy must not merely be a matter of headlines, it must also be corrected in the small print of the Swedish programme. (Applause)
| null |
Michał Tomasz Kamiński
|
MEP
|
ECR
|
en
|
pl
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, I would like first of all to offer my sincere congratulations on yesterday’s election, the election of a splendid president – the new head of Parliament. I do this, as you very well know, Mr President, as a Polish politician, but also as a person. You know that it was thanks to you that I met my wife, and that is still the greatest achievement of my life. Congratulations, and I wish you much success in your work. The European Conservatives and Reformists Group listened carefully to your speech, Prime Minister, and I am glad to be able to say that we share your views on very many matters. I consider your announcement of active measures to tackle the crisis to be especially important. The economic crisis, which is the worst crisis our civilisation has experienced since the 1930s, is causing unjustified anxiety throughout Europe – in poorer countries and in richer, in countries of the north and of the south. I am glad that you have announced an active fight against this crisis, and I am glad that you can see priorities which we also share – more freedom for the market, less regulation, more economic freedom, greater openness to free trade. These are a recipe for the economic growth of our continent, of our European Union. Prime Minister, we also share your conviction that dealing with climate change is an important matter. I know that you have bold views on this subject, and I want to encourage you to be bold in this area. The issue of climate change shows very clearly that today we live not only in a single Europe, but in a single world, where the threats are shared by all and must be dealt with effectively. I am very glad that you referred to the fight against crime as a serious problem of our European Union. I am convinced that, because Sweden is already a powerful force in the area of crime novels, we will also achieve success under your leadership in the area of the fight against crime. It is extremely important, and I am glad that both you and your Minister for Foreign Affairs have mentioned recently that you want to look carefully at our neighbours and take what I hope will be a sympathetic view of the idea of enlargement of the EU. We must not forget that across the eastern borders of the EU there are countries which are entitled to be part of the area of democracy and affluence which we are in today. I regret to say that there is just one point on which my group is not in agreement with you. This is the question of ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. You spoke about democracy in the context of the Treaty of Lisbon – and you were right to do so. It should be remembered that it was in a democratic referendum that the people of Ireland rejected the Treaty of Lisbon. Since we have respect for democracy, we should respect the vote of the Irish people. Prime Minister, I hope that your priorities, which in very large measure are shared by the ECR Group, will prove to be an opportunity which enables you to lead the European Union effectively and to deal effectively with the crisis, which is today our greatest problem. (Applause)
| null |
Lothar Bisky
|
MEP
|
GUE/NGL
|
en
|
de
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, Prime Minister Reinfeldt, ladies and gentlemen, the Swedish Presidency has presented an ambitious work programme which includes a proposal for more transparency. Transparency is needed in particular when combating the crisis we are currently experiencing. Many people believe that the crisis has been caused far away in the US and by some bankers who are said to be greedy. The heads of government in the EU Member States seem not to have had anything to do with the crisis. They are innocent parties. Those who bask in innocence do nothing to combat the crisis. I believe that transparency should also include talking about the failures of policy that contributed to the crisis and also of course about the bankers. Transparency is in vogue in casino capitalism. We are keen to see what happens with the Baltic Sea Strategy and I would be behind the President-in-Office of the Council if he were to focus on dialogue with Russia. We would also like the European Union to support the pledges of President Obama and President Medvedev with regard to the dismantling of nuclear weapons. The European Union ought to take advantage of this new opportunity for disarmament. The Swedish Presidency wants to further harmonise asylum law and make the European Union more attractive to migrant workers. Asylum policy is to be closely linked to development policy. This is a good thing in our view, but at the rigorously guarded external borders of the European Union, particularly in the Mediterranean, thousands of people die every year when seeking sanctuary from persecution, poverty, natural disasters and wars. Despite costly border control, monitoring and data acquisition systems to prevent illegal migration, the Group of the United European Left/Nordic Green Left calls for the humane treatment of refugees and migrants and a change in economic and trade policy to effectively combat the things that cause people to become refugees in the first place. The Swedish Presidency is focussing on more inclusive labour markets to create full employment and therefore wants to initiate labour market reforms and gender equality measures. We too are in favour of a strategy for good work practices which will support wage increases and introduce a statutory minimum wage across the board in all 27 countries. We want to see the EU agree on targets for the minimum wage set at a level of at least 60% of the national average wage in order to prevent people falling into poverty despite having gainful employment. I particularly welcome what you said about Cyprus and I wish you every success in implementing your ambitious climate targets.
| null |
Francesco Enrico Speroni
|
MEP
|
ID
|
en
|
it
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciated the fact that the Swedish Presidency emphasised issues that concern our fellow citizens, our electorate, namely the environment and climate change, the financial crisis, the safeguarding of jobs and the fight against crime, because, in order to do a good job, we need to be in harmony with those who voted for us. We are no better or worse than our electorate, but I do believe that it is important to act in accordance with what they are asking of us, and these points seem to me to be along the lines that I mentioned. Moving on, we must, of course, turn the proposals into concrete action, and here we will come up against one another above all in the codecision procedure, since we, Parliament, and you, the Council, will lay down those rules that will govern the lives, affairs and interests of our electorate, and I believe that that is our fundamental task as legislators. We must overcome the crisis of confidence that undoubtedly exists. The poor turnout at the elections of this Parliament is a symptom of this, and to overcome it, we must act fully in accordance with the will of our electorate. We must also perhaps avoid making comparisons: your country borders Norway; I live near Switzerland. They are outside the European Union, but they live well all the same; they have the same problems, but they are no worse off than us, and here it is important to see and to demonstrate that it is worth having the European Union. I believe that this is a great challenge but I also believe that, with everyone’s help, we can show that Europe should not be suffered, but should be an opportunity for those who live there and are citizens of it.
| null |
Barry Madlener
|
MEP
|
NI
|
en
|
nl
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
The Dutch Party for Freedom has come into this Parliament in order to stand up for Dutch citizens and in order to wrest back the money that has been overpaid by the Netherlands to this cash-guzzling and bureaucratic Europe. The Party for Freedom was elected to this Parliament by Dutch voters to make it clear that Dutch citizens believe that the enlargement of the European Union has already gone far too far. Mr President, this Parliament spends its time regulating matters that should be determined in the Member States themselves. As far as our party is concerned, the European Union should only be involved in matters relating to economic and monetary cooperation. It is with Dutch interests to the fore that we will keep our eyes on the Swedish Presidency, as it is doing nothing for Dutch citizens. You want to just press ahead with the European Constitution, which Dutch voters rejected and which is 99% identical to the Treaty of Lisbon. You also fail to do anything about the immensely costly monthly relocation from Brussels to Strasbourg. What is more, you have not even put the matter on the agenda. Why not? It costs thousands of millions of euros and the only people who like the idea are perhaps those at Ikea, who get the chance to sell moving boxes and extra cupboards. We also want to see the negotiations with Turkey brought to an immediate end. Turkey is an Islamic country and the Islamic ideology is completely at odds with our Western culture. Turkey is, furthermore, absolutely not a European country, but an Asian one, while Turkish membership would cost Dutch citizens sacks full of money yet again. Turkey can be a good neighbour, but it does not belong within the European family. The Party for Freedom stands for a Europe of sovereign states, but further building work towards a federal superstate where the Member States get to determine less and less of their own affairs is taking place under the Swedish Presidency. We therefore hope that the people of Ireland will have the courage to vote ‘no’, once again, to the Treaty of Lisbon. The Irish population has the opportunity, here, to act as the voice of the people of Europe, and I would like to ask you, on behalf of the Party for Freedom, what conclusions the Swedish Presidency will draw from the result of the Irish referendum.
| null |
Fredrik Reinfeldt
|
EU Council President
|
N/A
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, allow me first to congratulate you all collectively on having been elected as group leaders. I know that a number of you were elected with very strong support. I know, for example, that Martin Schulz was re-elected with very strong support in the social democrat group. It is important to be able to represent your respective groups strongly. I very much welcomed the dialogue that we have had and the consultations which I was asked to introduce by the European Council during the month of June. This was done by EU Minister Cecilia Malmström. I also did it myself, both through telephone contacts and at the meeting that we had on a boat in the archipelago as we moved through the waters of Stockholm, sitting and discussing the situation that had arisen. I had been asked to investigate the possibility of electing José Manuel Barroso, appointed by the European Council, as president of the Commission for a second period of office. A number of the matters that you touched upon are the main issues that I want to work on during the Swedish Presidency. Let me say that we are putting jobs first. We want to see a Europe in which more people have work. The discussion must start from how we achieve this. Just as Joseph Daul pointed out, I believe it is a matter of innovation and training; in other words, the things that basically drive enterprise and make people employable. I believe that Martin Schulz is right that we must be wary of ending up a Europe in which we compete on the basis of poor terms. We are having this discussion in Sweden, and it is also taking place around Europe. Having low or no pay is not a good starting point from which to try to face the competition; rather, it is only with good conditions that we can face the competition of the future. Allow me to mention some other things that I believe are very important for steering Europe through the crisis. I have seen how the Commission – and I myself think this is important – has managed to defend the principle of the internal market at a time when many are attempting to compromise it and bring in protectionism. It is very easy to listen to those who are saying ‘Why did you not save the jobs in this particular country?’ without seeing the consequences of this if everyone acted in this way. If we did, we would basically extinguish free trade and the opportunity for cross-border trade. That which has basically created wealth and prosperity would very quickly be lost had we not resisted the call for protectionism. I believe that safeguarding the internal market and free movement is an important starting point for securing jobs. I also have great faith in other things mentioned by some of you, such as investing in human skills and ensuring mobility in the labour market. I believe, for example, that one way to manage this is precisely this free movement – including across borders. Just as Martin Schultz, Rebecca Harms and Joseph Daul mentioned, I believe that this is also an opportunity to combat this with a green trend, to bring about the low emission economies that we are talking about all over the world as another way of getting out of the crisis. How we manage financing and how we invest are important. I also want to say – I agree with Guy Verhofstadt on this point – that the Swedish experience of crisis management in the 1990s was that it can only be done by keeping a grip on public finances. I have learnt that when deficits are large and rationalisation is called for, it is people with small margins and those that are most dependent on welfare institutions who are left behind. Consequently, a policy that is prudent with public finances is a good policy for people who are poor or living on small margins. Where the climate issue is concerned – which will be the main issue we work on ahead of the Copenhagen summit – I want to say that it is true that there is still a lot to do. Time is short. I want to tell Rebecca Harms that it is unusual for us in Sweden to be criticised for our aid commitments. The average spent in Europe on such commitments is 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product. Sweden is fairly unique in that one per cent of our gross domestic product goes to development aid. For me, these matters are related. We carried out our own review under the leadership of our aid minister within the framework of the UN’s initiatives. During this we analysed precisely how we need to bear climate change in mind in our development work. You cannot carry on development work without at the same time looking at climate change and how it is already affecting poor parts of the earth. Consequently, we cannot separate these issues and say that this is development policy and that is climate policy – rather they are related and have to work together. Where the Treaty is concerned, I would like to say to Martin Schulz that my role is to ensure that there is effective European leadership in a difficult period. We must be able to give answers to the citizens who want to see us take action to combat the financial crisis and on climate issues. We are all politically active and know that in the political domain, when we are inward-looking and discuss names and leadership our citizens perceive this as us having turned our backs on them. We are looking inwards. Therefore I will do what I can in my role. I have been tasked by the European Council with ensuring that our cooperation and our respect for the integrity of the European Parliament are united by clarity – whether under the Treaty of Nice or the Treaty of Lisbon – in our nomination of a candidate to the post of Commission President. Where José Manuel Barroso is concerned, it is important to state that he was unanimously supported in the European Council, that he was well known as a candidate and had already been introduced to the electorate prior to the election. Naturally, that made it easier for me to act – naturally respecting the fact that the European Parliament will be given opportunity, when you feel ready to make a decision, to say yes or no to the candidate nominated by the European Council. Meanwhile there is time for discussions, which I know José Manuel Barroso has also stated, and to have this type of dialogue concerning how European policy is to develop in the years ahead. I hope that this can now be agreed in accordance with the agreement that has been made. It is what the electorate of Europe now expects, and will enable us to act together with strength.
| null |
José Manuel Barroso
|
EU Commission President
|
N/A
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, some important questions have been asked; I shall try to answer them very briefly. Firstly, Mr Schulz’s important question regarding the treaties. He referred, in particular, to the Commission’s role as guardian of the treaties. We in the Commission believe that there should be respect for the treaties in force. The treaty in force is the Treaty of Nice. All of you who are sitting here were elected under the Treaty of Nice. Obviously, if the President of the Commission is elected now, he will be elected as you were, under the Treaty of Nice. That being said, we are going to have – I hope – the Treaty of Lisbon. The necessary adjustments will have to be made as regards the composition of Parliament, which will no longer be the same with the Treaty of Lisbon, since there will be certain changes, and the same will have to be done for the Commission. Nonetheless, the European Council adhered to every aspect of your report – the Dehaene report – which was adopted by an overwhelming majority. On the subject of the European Council, before formalising its decision, it carried out consultations, which also took into account – and this is a real first – the result of the European elections, not to mention the fact that there had been a candidate supported by a political force. The task now is to gain the approval of the European Parliament. I should like to repeat today what I have already said in a letter sent to the President of the European Parliament: I am ready to discuss the content of the guidelines for the next Commission with any political group that wishes to discuss them. In any case, that is my position as regards institutional matters. On a political level, I should like to stress a very important point. I believe that it is important to link the election of the President of the Commission to the democratic election that has taken place, your election. You have been elected by virtue of the Treaty of Nice, and it is my view that the President of the Commission should also have this legitimacy, which should in a way result from this democratic election. Furthermore, in view of the economic and financial crisis – and I believe that those who are in favour of a strong Europe and who want a strong Commission will no doubt agree – the matter of Presidency of the Commission should not be left unresolved now pending the final ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, which we all want – at least the majority of us do – when we do not know when that treaty will come into force. Leaving the European Commission and its Presidency in a state of suspense when there is an economic crisis, a financial crisis and a social crisis, and when we have very important negotiations ahead of us in Copenhagen, does not seem very wise to me. Be that as it may, it is up to the European Parliament to decide, and I am ready to enter into a democratic debate as, in fact, I did five years ago. On the second question about finance and the economy and what Mr Verhofstadt said: we can all have more ambition, and on that matter let me tell you that I share your ambition. But we cannot say that we did not adopt a European economic recovery plan, and that was the maximum that our Member States accepted. The European Commission proposed more, but that was what our Member States accepted. I want to draw your attention to the fact that some Member States – no less influential at the beginning of this crisis – suggested not to have a coordination plan. Some others suggested a fiscal stimulus of 1%, and the European Commission came immediately to the proposal of 1.5%, and in fact the automatic stabilisers were around 5%. Apart from that, we took those important decisions in terms of balance-of-payment support to some non-euro-area members and also some initiatives at global level. So you may count on the Commission to do everything we can do to reinforce the European level and a common approach, let us have no ambiguity about it. But, also, let us be honest with ourselves: we are not the United States of America – we are not an integrated nation state – so of course we have different situations. You cannot ask Germany and Latvia to do the same thing. We have countries in Europe that are under balance-of-payment support, so of course we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach. We have to have a common approach but with specific national responses, because that is the reality we are facing in European and will face in the near future. We have mainly national budgets. So I share your approach to have a more coordinated European plan, namely to get out of this crisis and to build this kind of smart green growth we want; but at the same time we have to accept that we have 27 national budgets, we have 27 finance ministers, we have 27 national banks apart from our European Central Bank, and it is very important to reinforce the euro and to have economic policies and financial policies that are sustainable. If not, we will put the euro, one of the great successes of European integration, at risk. Finally, on the question of climate change, once again we can always have more ambition. But for me it was very important that Prime Minister Reinfeldt was with me recently in L’Aquila, when we heard the Secretary-General of the United Nations say: ‘You are the locomotive of the world’. We can always have more ambition, but the European Union is leading the fight against climate change in the world. No one is being more ambitious than we are, so of course I would expect at least a word of recognition in terms of the work done by this Commission, together with our Member States, to put forward ambitious proposals. Let us now try to convince others, because we need others – because the problem of climate change is not just a European problem, it is a problem for our planet. With your support I believe we can achieve success at the Copenhagen Conference. (Applause)
| null |
Gunnar Hökmark
|
MEP
|
PPE
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, as a Swede it is with pride that I listen to the Swedish Presidency’s priorities and I am also proud to be able to welcome the Prime Minister of Sweden back here again. The challenges we face are very substantial. We have 20 years of fantastic, miraculous change in Europe behind us, and as a result we now have one of the early representatives of the Solidarność movement for freedom as president of the European Parliament. It is ideals such as democracy, freedom, the rule of law and the market economy that have given us 20 years of fantastic development. We are now living in a time of change with a new treaty, the climate issue which demands a consistent policy capable of global impact, and the economic crisis. It is therefore important that we have a presidency, but also a parliament, that is capable of ensuring that we get stability as regards public finances, stability as regards the internal market and stability as regards openness to trade and movement across borders that can help to take us out of the crisis. I would like to take this perspective one step further. The decisions for which we are now preparing the way through the Swedish Presidency and in this Parliament will also decide the form that Europe and the European Union will take after the crisis – what dynamics we have in the financial markets and what confidence and credibility they enjoy, and what room we have for innovation and enterprise, for investments and new jobs. If the elections to the European Parliament showed one thing, it is that the citizens of Europe want less bureaucracy and regulation and greater openness – across the borders and out to the world. It is this openness that will be crucial to Europe’s ability to be a leading force for the values that 20 years ago began to change Europe, and to which we can also contribute out in the world. (Applause)
| null |
Marita Ulvskog
|
MEP
|
S&D
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, I would first like to thank the Swedish Prime Minister for his presentation of what he and his government want to do in the coming six months. We know that we are in a tough starting position; the crisis is deep. It is about jobs, it is about dramatically growing chasms, it is about a generation of young people who are going straight into unemployment and of course it is about the environmental and climate crisis. This has also been described by Prime Minister Reinfeldt, but it is the conclusions that are surprising. What has been highlighted as the central issue for the Swedish Presidency is not jobs or investments, but rather the Member States’ ability to maintain budgetary discipline. As we approach 27 million unemployed in the EU, the clearest message from the Swedish Presidency is thus: budgetary discipline. This is not only wrong, but also worrying. In this area Mr Reinfeldt’s party – contrary to what has been said here earlier – comes with some hefty historical domestic policy baggage. The last conservative Swedish Government led Sweden into economic disintegration, and it was a social democratic government that had to devote 10 years to sorting out our public finances. However, we cannot allow old shortcomings in domestic policy to set the agenda for the whole of the EU at a time of serious crisis. What is needed is major investments in jobs, training and green change – not putting anorexic economies on a diet by means of budgetary discipline. John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, has also expressed concern that the social dimension of the Swedish Presidency has been given such low priority. Mostly fine words, says Mr Monks, very little in the way of real plans. My group shares these concerns, and they also include the trade union rights of workers, as Martin Schulz stated in his speech. Workers’ terms have deteriorated following the Laval judgment and following the Viking, Rüffert and Luxembourg judgments. Their rights have been weakened. What I and my group want from the Swedish Presidency is a definite commitment that the EU’s workers will have their full trade union rights restored. Trade union rights must take precedence over free movement. That must be extremely clear. We do not want to live in a Europe in which the crisis is met with budgetary discipline and with confrontation. Is this matter even on the agenda, I would like to ask the new president, Prime Minister Reinfeldt.
| null |
Marielle De Sarnez
|
MEP
|
ALDE
|
en
|
fr
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, we are faced with two issues. The first issue is the crisis. As everyone knows, we need a consistent and common response to the economic and social crisis and thus a European recovery plan to increase investments and to support employment. Europe really must show today that it is more attentive and closer to our fellow citizens when it comes to the difficulties they are facing. It must do more to help those who are affected by the crisis. From that perspective, the situation is urgent. The second issue is finally that of the new development model that must come out of the end of the crisis. It must be a simpler, fairer and more sustainable model, which ensures that finance serves the real economy, which develops new forms of solidarity among Europeans, which takes account of the social and environmental challenges in international trade, and which radically reforms our relations with the world’s poorest countries, and here I am thinking specifically of Africa. In addition to these two major issues there is a democratic requirement that concerns the process for which you, the Swedish Presidency, are responsible. Cecilia Malmström – whom I am pleased to welcome today – knows better than anyone that there are some very important differences between the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Lisbon where the appointment procedure is concerned: a simple majority on one hand, and a qualified majority on the other; an appointment on one hand, and a nomination on the other; and a different number of commissioners depending on the treaty. For my part I am really asking you to ensure that the spirit and the letter of the treaties are respected. This falls under your remit, and it is very important for the credibility of our institutions. Thank you in advance.
| null |
Carl Schlyter
|
MEP
|
Greens/EFA
|
en
|
sv
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, congratulations on your appointment. I would first like to commend the government for having a genuine commitment to the Baltic Sea and I hope that we will make progress here. You also have remarkably good rhetoric on climate change. What I am now looking for, of course, is for this rhetoric to be put into practice. You often say that Europe and Sweden account for only a small part of the world’s emissions, but if the EU Member States are home to just eight per cent of the world’s population and account for 30 per cent of emissions, then it is also our responsibility to take a large part of the climate work seriously. It is here that I find the concrete information lacking. How are you going to deal with the IPPC Directive on industrial emissions? How are you going to deal with illegal felling? How are you going to deal with energy efficiency standards for buildings and how are you going to deal with the fact that aircraft cannot continue with their emissions while at the same time avoiding paying the EUR 14 billion in energy tax that they should pay? Then I would also like to bring up the Stockholm Programme and Acta. Where Acta is concerned, we must ensure that there is openness here. The German constitutional court has said that the countries must have more influence, that the parliaments must have more influence. We need openness in the Acta negotiations. We cannot move towards supervision unilaterally. The same applies to my hometown and the Stockholm Programme. Let it become a name that is associated with the EU’s transition from terror paranoia to human freedoms and rights and with a strengthening of asylum law and the protection of privacy. Then we will have made progress.
| null |
Vicky Ford
|
MEP
|
ECR
|
en
|
en
| 2009-07-15T00:00:00
|
2009
|
Presentation of the work programme of the Swedish Presidency (debate) Video of the speechesPV
|
Mr President, I would like to congratulate the Swedish Presidency for prioritising economic challenges. Whilst we have economic uncertainty, our ability to face any of our other challenges is obviously diminished. You are right to prioritise the need to restore public finances: the extraordinarily high levels of public debt pose great and long-term threats that, unless we face up to them now, may be with us for many decades. But restoring health to financial institutions is also key to regaining the confidence of consumers and returning economic growth, let alone taxpayers’ money. In your priorities you discuss the importance of the supervisory framework. I would add that regulatory clarity is vital. These industries are, as we all know, global industries. The capital, the talent and the individual enterprises are highly fluid. They need workable and defined legislative timetables, prioritisation of legislation and proper consultation. I welcome your commitment to work alongside the G20, because if we get out of step and go unilateral in the EU we risk not only putting borrowers and investors at a competitive disadvantage but also causing industries to relocate outside... (The President cut off the speaker.)
| null |
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
Dataset Description
This dataset is a conversion of the original coastalcph/eu_debates dataset released by Chalkidis and Brandl (2024).
The goal of this repository is to provide the same underlying data without a Python loading script, in a standard format (JSON Lines / Parquet) compatible with the current Hugging Face datasets library and automated data loading.
The original EU Debates corpus consists of approx. 87k individual speeches in the period 2009–2023. The data was exhaustively scraped from the official European Parliament Plenary website (link). All speeches are time-stamped, thematically organized in debates, and include metadata about:
- the speaker's identity (full name, euro-party affiliation, speaker role),
- the debate (date and title),
- language information, and (where available) machine-translated versions in English.
Older debate speeches are originally in English, while newer ones are linguistically diverse across the 23 official EU languages. Machine-translated English versions are provided using the EasyNMT framework with the M2M-100 (418M) model (Fan et al., 2020).
This repository only changes the storage format (to train.jsonl / Parquet) and removes the Python loading script.
The data contents and fields are preserved from the original dataset.
Data Fields
Each row / JSONL line is a single speech with the following fields:
speaker_name:string, full name of the speaker.speaker_party:string, name of the euro-party (group) that the MEP is affiliated with.speaker_role:string, role of the speaker (e.g., Member of the European Parliament (MEP), EUROPARL President).debate_title:string, title of the debate in the European Parliament.date:string, full date of the speech inYYYY-MM-DDformat.year:string, year of the speech inYYYYformat.intervention_language:string, language code of the original intervention.original_language:string, language code of the original text.text:string, full original speech of the speaker.translated_text:stringornull, machine translation of the speech into English if the original is not English, otherwisenull.
Data Instances
Example of a data instance:
{
"speaker_name": "Michèle Striffler",
"speaker_party": "PPE",
"speaker_role": "MEP",
"debate_title": "Famine in East Africa (debate)",
"date": "2011-09-15",
"year": "2011",
"intervention_language": "fr",
"original_language": "fr",
"text": "Monsieur le Président, Madame le Commissaire, chers collègues, la situation humanitaire sans précédent que connaît la Corne de l'Afrique continue [...]",
"translated_text": "Mr. President, Mr. Commissioner, dear colleagues, the unprecedented humanitarian situation of the Horn of Africa continues [...]"
}
How to Use
From the Hugging Face Hub
If the dataset is hosted under RJuro/eu_debates:
from datasets import load_dataset
eu_debates = load_dataset("RJuro/eu_debates", split="train")
From Local Files
If you downloaded the train.jsonl file locally:
from datasets import load_dataset
eu_debates = load_dataset(
"json",
data_files={"train": "train.jsonl"},
split="train",
)
If you use Parquet instead:
from datasets import load_dataset
eu_debates = load_dataset(
"parquet",
data_files={"train": "train.parquet"},
split="train",
)
Dataset Statistics
The statistics below are inherited from the original coastalcph/eu_debates dataset.
Distribution of speeches across euro-parties:
| Euro-party | No. of Speeches |
|---|---|
| EPP | 25,455 (29%) |
| S&D | 20,042 (23%) |
| ALDE | 8,946 (10%) |
| ECR | 7,493 (9%) |
| ID | 6,970 (8%) |
| GUE/NGL | 6,780 (8%) |
| Greens/EFA | 6,398 (7%) |
| NI | 5,127 (6%) |
| Total | 87,221 |
Distribution of speeches across years and euro-parties:
| Year | EPP | S&D | ALDE | ECR | ID | GUE/NGL | Greens/EFA | NI | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 748 | 456 | 180 | 138 | 72 | 174 | 113 | 163 | 2044 |
| 2010 | 3205 | 1623 | 616 | 340 | 341 | 529 | 427 | 546 | 7627 |
| 2011 | 4479 | 2509 | 817 | 418 | 761 | 792 | 490 | 614 | 10880 |
| 2012 | 3366 | 1892 | 583 | 419 | 560 | 486 | 351 | 347 | 8004 |
| 2013 | 724 | 636 | 240 | 175 | 152 | 155 | 170 | 154 | 2406 |
| 2014 | 578 | 555 | 184 | 180 | 131 | 160 | 144 | 180 | 2112 |
| 2015 | 978 | 1029 | 337 | 405 | 398 | 325 | 246 | 240 | 3958 |
| 2016 | 919 | 972 | 309 | 387 | 457 | 317 | 225 | 151 | 3737 |
| 2017 | 649 | 766 | 181 | 288 | 321 | 229 | 162 | 135 | 2731 |
| 2018 | 554 | 611 | 161 | 242 | 248 | 175 | 160 | 133 | 2284 |
| 2019 | 1296 | 1339 | 719 | 556 | 513 | 463 | 490 | 353 | 5729 |
| 2020 | 1660 | 1564 | 823 | 828 | 661 | 526 | 604 | 346 | 7012 |
| 2021 | 2147 | 2189 | 1290 | 1062 | 909 | 708 | 990 | 625 | 9920 |
| 2022 | 2436 | 2273 | 1466 | 1177 | 827 | 962 | 1031 | 641 | 10813 |
| 2023 | 1716 | 1628 | 1040 | 878 | 619 | 779 | 795 | 499 | 7954 |
Distribution of speeches across the 23 EU official languages:
| Language | No. of Speeches |
|---|---|
| en | 40,736 (46.7%) |
| de | 6,497 (7.5%) |
| fr | 6,024 (6.9%) |
| es | 5,172 (5.9%) |
| it | 4,506 (5.2%) |
| pl | 3,792 (4.4%) |
| pt | 2,713 (3.1%) |
| ro | 2,308 (2.7%) |
| el | 2,290 (2.6%) |
| nl | 2,286 (2.6%) |
| hu | 1,661 (1.9%) |
| hr | 1,509 (1.7%) |
| cs | 1,428 (1.6%) |
| sv | 1,210 (1.4%) |
| bg | 928 (1.1%) |
| sk | 916 (1.1%) |
| sl | 753 (0.9%) |
| fi | 693 (0.8%) |
| lt | 618 (0.7%) |
| da | 578 (0.7%) |
| et | 342 (0.4%) |
| lv | 184 (0.2%) |
| mt | 0 (0.0%) |
Citation Information
If you use this dataset, please cite the original work:
Llama meets EU: Investigating the European political spectrum through the lens of LLMs. Ilias Chalkidis and Stephanie Brandl. In the Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL), Mexico City, Mexico, June 16–21, 2024.
@inproceedings{chalkidis-and-brandl-eu-llama-2024,
title = "Llama meets EU: Investigating the European political spectrum through the lens of LLMs",
author = "Chalkidis, Ilias and Brandl, Stephanie",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2024 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics",
month = jun,
year = "2024",
address = "Mexico City, Mexico",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
}
This repository only provides a format-converted, script-free version of the original dataset; all credit for data collection and annotation goes to the original authors.
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