15th EPP Congress
Our future: A strong Europe
17 - 18 October 2002
Estoril - Portugal

Thursday, 17 October 2002

Extracts: translated from the original German

"The parliamentary Group of the European people's Party and European Democrats consists of 233 Members from the 15 Member States representing 31 political parties. We are the largest political Group in the European Parliament and we can say we are also the leading political force in Parliament. The Socialist Group continues to suffer from their election defeat in the 1999 European elections. They said that our Group would collapse and splinter. They were wrong. It is in fact the Socialist Group that becomes smaller and smaller.

Of course it is not always easy to conciliate the different views and interests represented in our parliamentary group. However our unity has never been stronger than it is now. For this achievement I would like to warmly thank the Heads of National Delegations, the President, our Secretary General, Klaus Welle, and all our staff. I wish also to thank Wilfried Martens, President of the European People's Party and its Secretary General Antonio Lopez, for the continuing good and friendly co-operation.

In our parliamentary group different strands of Christianity, Evangelical, Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic and orthodox as well as Anglican give us a common Christian image of man. The human being is a person responsible for and part of the community. This is the basis for our principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. These principles will be put to the test over the next months and years with the enlargement of the European Union and the conclusion of the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe. It was my parliamentary group that proposed that enlargement takes place in time for the Central and Eastern European countries to participate in the European elections in June 2004. This is now the common policy of the Institutions of the European Union. We expect that at the end of this year negotiations will have concluded with 10 countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia as well as Cyprus and Malta. We cannot disappoint the expectations of the people who want to join our community of values now.

The accession countries must meet the conditions laid down but we cannot impose any new conditions - for example, by insisting on a prior reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Such an attitude could delay accession for months or even years. Let us not forget that we have long fought for the right to freedom, democracy and self-determination for the people's of Central and Eastern Europe. They also have fought to join our country - the European Union. Poland played an historical role in this historical development. Without Solidarnosc there would not have been German unification. Pope John Paul II is without doubt the spiritual and moving force behind the political changes in Eastern Europe. It was his call, during a visit to his homeland in 1980, to the people of Poland, "Do not be afraid" that was the root of all this positive development. For myself it is our historical, political, and indeed moral obligation to integrate these countries into our Union.

Our second big challenge is the successful conclusion of the Convention on the Future of Europe. Wilfried Martens and Wolfgang Schauble led the working group which prepared the main resolution before this Congress. I will make only a few comments in this area. You will remember the EPP Congress in January 2001 in Berlin, where our parliamentary group demanded the convening of a Convention because the previous method, the Intergovernmental Conference, no longer was able to meet the challenges involved. We were successful. The President of the Convention Valérie Giscard d'Estaing belongs to our political family, the Convention meets in our parliamentary meeting room. I hope therefore that the spirit of our Group will prevail in the decisions of the Convention. For the EPP part of our parliamentary group the crucial tasks of the Convention are, one, we want a Community Europe with strong European Institutions and not an intergovernmental Europe where large countries dominate. We do not want a Europe of the powerful but a Europe of solidarity. We do not want a Europe of dominance but a Europe of democracy and the Rule of Law, a Europe of understanding and mutual confidence. The Convention should conclude its work before the end of 2003 to be followed by a short intergovernmental Conference during the Italian presidency, under the responsibility of Silvio Berlusconi so that a new Treaty of Rome can adopt a new constitutional structure for the European Union of the 21st century. We must be ambitious so that Europe can be successful.

Ladies and Gentleman, dear delegates, since the first of January, we have the European common currency, the Euro, in circulation. But economic and monetary union is far more than the mere expression of a financial and economic community. It is a further convincing symbol of the integration of Europe. It is also for our young people the expression of our common European future. Unfortunately we now see demands for weakening the stability criteria which underpin the strength of the currency. We believe this would be a serious mistake. Confidence in the new currency cannot be shaken.

The events of 11 September 2001 in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania changed the world. These attacks were attacks on our ideals of democracy and freedom. We must fight terrorism on all fronts, but we must not equate terrorism with the Arab or Islamic world, we must do all we can to prevent this becoming a conflict of religions or of cultures, or a clash of civilisations. An intensive dialogue between the European Union and the Arab world within the framework of the Barcelona process is vital for the future. The dialogue was intensified during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union under José Maria Aznar. We must continue in this way. I know from my visits to arab countries that they also wish for more dialogue, they wish to avoid confrontation and privilege partnership and friendship between neighbours.

Ladies and Gentleman, fifty years ago in 1952, the European Coal and Steel Community was created. It was the initiative of Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet. Europe has made great progress since then but we have not completed the project. We must remember the words of Jean Monnet "Nothing is possible without people, nothing is durable with Institutions". We must continue our European way with self-confidence and ambition and also with patience - then we will achieve our aims.