Speeches

Speech from Mr Hans-Gert Poettering,
Chairman of the EPP-ED Group,
in the European Parliament
on Wednesday, 2 July 2003

Italian Presidency: Integration and Enlargement of the EU must be completed. Hans-Gert Poettering MEP




Speaking in a debate in the European Parliament on the programme of the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union , the Chairman of the EPP-ED Group said:

"I would recall that on 25 March 1957 in the capital of Italy, the Treaty of Rome was signed. You, Mr. Berlusconi, have a huge task ahead of you in presiding over our Union. You might understand this as a burden, but it is not just a burden, it is a major opportunity to bring the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe to a successful conclusion, so by the end of the year we can say that we have a European constitution of Rome which will be signed in Rome. When the ten countries from Central and Southern Europe, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, and Cyprus become full Members of the European Union we will be signing this new Constitutional Treaty for Europe.

"I would like to say to all our friends in Italy and to the Italian Presidency that our Group will leave no stone unturned in achieving a European constitution. I would also like to thank you, President, for what you have repeated this morning. In Rome during the meeting of the Conference of Presidents of political groups you said that you would ensure that when meetings of Heads of State and Government are held, Parliament will be represented. You will guarantee that when the Ministers of Foreign Affairs meet to debate the constitution that representatives of the European Parliament will be attending. This should be self-evident. We look forward to you making good these promises.

"Yesterday, our representatives in the Presidium of the Convention were thanked for the work they have done. I would like to say the same for all of the Members of the Convention from the Parliament. We are looking forward to having their work crowned with success before the end of this year.

"President in Office of the Council, you talked about strong European Institutions. Our Group has always and will always, and indeed yesterday in the presence of Pier Ferdinando Casini, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the existence of our Group, and we had Helmut Kohl and Jean-Pierre Raffarin and many others in attendance, and we made it clear once again that we in the EPP-ED Group are in favour of a Community Europe. A relapse into mere intergovernmental co-operation would be a step backwards. This is why we must have strong European Institutions. This has to be the result of the constitution by the end of the day. At the same time we have to realise that we have roots in the homelands that we come from and in the regions. I don't think that we should see it as a contradiction coming from a particular region and yet being part of Europe.

"President of Council, you talked about infrastructure investment measures. We are going to take a very close look at this but we are also going to ask the question to whether the stability of the Euro is guaranteed. We want to guarantee and enjoy the stability of our young European currency.

"President in Office of the Council, for you personally, for Italy, but in particular for us in the European Union we hope that you will score major success which will entry into the pages of our history books. The 16 April 2003 was such a date, because countries in Central and Southern Europe actually are gave their signatures to the accession treaties. As of 1 May 2004, we will have, hopefully, a European constitution signed in Rome, and I wish you every possible success. Our Group will certainly always accompany you along this path.


(Translation from the original German)