Brussels, 09/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - President Romano Prodi announced on Wednesday to the press that the European Commission had just unanimously adopted its Strategic Objectives 2000-2005, a document which "is not a Soviet-type five-year programme", but one that "outlines our ambitions" and on which "we will be judged". Mr Prodi, noting that there is a great need for Europe in the world, for "its strength and especially its balance", said this need for Europe is seen not only at economic level but also at political level, observing that "the new frontiers of integration" are security and defence policy, justice and internal security ("everyone's personal security", he added) and the "crucial challenge of our fundamental political values". And he mentioned straight away enlargement (which is "something great, never before experienced in history"), highlighting the "passion" that sustains the applicant countries, which "will be able to rewrite their history" solely by becoming members of the European Union, and the "common work" being done by their governments and their opposition parites in order to attain this goal. If the European States "do not manage to unite at a higher scale, they may not survive", exclaimed Mr Prodi. And he outlined as follows the document he will be presenting next week to the European Parliament plenary session.
1. Promoting new forms of European governance. There is a need to "rethink relations between the European institutions and different levels of government", asserted Mr Prodi, adding that they need thorough reworking and especially that there is a need to "see how to interpret concretely the subsidiarity principle". The Union has a moral obligation to leave to "nations, regions and cities" the functions that there is no need to exercise at Community level, continued Mr Prodi, who announced a Commission White Paper on this subject. When will he present the paper? Mr Prodi replied that it would not be "at short notice", and said that while the exercise would take place in parallel with the forthcoming IGC, it is likely to conclude "later" than the Intergovernmental Conference on institutional reform. "I want to put in this paper all the competences I don't want here any more" and this will require being "concrete", stated Mr Prodi, adding: "This is a reshaping of our work." Asked which competences he would like to remove from the Community level, Mr Prodi replied: "there is a list of ridiculous things done in Brussels".
2. Creating an area of peace, freedom, democracy and security. Enlargement of the EU must also be a "source of security for individuals" and give them "more tranquillity", said Mr Prodi, noting that such an area of security can only be guaranteed through good relations with neighbouring countries, "beginning with Russia and Ukraine" and the Mediterranean countries.
3. Creating a new "economic and social agenda". "We now have the right cards in our hand", said Mr Prodi in regard to the economic recovery that is emerging but is "not yet ripe" (he mentioned, in German, the atmosphere of Vorfrühling, or "pre-spring"). This recovery "is not dropping out of the heavens" but is the result of the efforts of recent years, he stated, adding: "Europe has beaten inflation". To a journalist who recalled that the ECB had just increased its rates precisely out of concern to stem inflation, Mr Prodi responded: "I think this was an early warning and I have always agreed with the idea of early warnings. But I really think it is only because the euro exists that inflation has not increased further in spite of rising oil prices. It think this is a miracle." The euro is a "strong currency" and should not be evaluated on its exchange rate, he added. And Mr Prodi repeated that there is a need to ensure that recovery can be sustained and that it will create "many jobs", which will only be possible if the needed structural reforms continue. "The obsession", said Mr Prodi, noting that this would be one of the subjects of the special summit in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March, is technology, innovation and the information society.
4. Improving the quality of life. The Commission wants to defend and improve the quality of citizens' lives, protect the environment, guarantee that citizens have "safe food", asserted Mr Prodi, announcing that his programme would also include "many other chapters" concerning, for example, a "single sky" now for fifteen countries, not for 28 later.
Stressing the Commission's will to cooperate closely with Parliament and the Council, Mr Prodi concluded: "The decade that is beginning can be and even must be the decade of Europe".
Prodi responds to those critical of the Commission's work
Mr Prodi also responded to criticisms by those who, "accuse me of promising a lot and doing little", of "aiming high and then pulling back", mentioning the following.
- Enlargement. The Commission has taken the risk of saying there would be a date and that date is there: it is 1 January 2002, said Mr Prodi, noting that on that date, after ratification of the results of the IGC, the Union would be "open to new members" ("I hope there will already be several new members before the end of my term of office", he added).
- The IGC. "I wanted a broad agenda and, while one week before Helsinki the "line of closure" was "almost certain", the Portuguese Presidency is preparing a broader agenda, remarked Mr Prodi, noting that he had also been "pleased" to hear President Chirac recognise before the European Parliament (at the December plenary session, Ed.) the need for enhanced cooperation.
- Food safety. "I promised to create a food agency and this has been done", said Mr Prodi, adding: "If I had created a centralised agency like the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, I would have been criticised for creating another cumbersome administrative structure in Brussels."
- The Khadafi affair. "I wanted to verify the usefulness of a step forward in the Mediterranean, while remaining firm on the Barcelona process principles", observed Mr Prodi, who remarked: "You will see that the fruit will ripen." "I think that it was my duty to take these relations forward and I will do so in the future. I could not say, 'Sorry, I am the Commission President; go see someone else.' I hope he will still be able to come. My absolute priority is the pursuit of integration of the Mediterranean countries", stated Mr Prodi about a possible visit by the Libyan President to the European institutions.
- Reform of the Commission. There is sometimes talk of a "weak College, or even a weak President, who does not control the Commissioners and does not know the ins and outs of issues", said Mr Prodi, exclaiming: "I am not a civil servant! (…) I set the Commission's policy line, I support the Commissioners and get them going. (…) I try to support the administration's morale. I have found here individuals of a very, very high level (…) but terribly demoralised and in some cases with a sense of despair. (…) They suffered a good deal from what happened." Mr Prodi also said he had never considered his work as something "individual": the Commission is a "team" made up of young people ("I am 60 and there is only one Commissioner older than I am", he remarked) who have a career ahead of them and when someone in a team scores a point the entire team wins, said the Commission President, adding that he does not see himself as the "leader of a solitary structure", but as the team "coach".
Answering a journalist who wondered whether the European Parliament was not "placing the Commission under guardianship", Mr Prodi asserted: "Parliament is doing its job and I am doing mine. Our relations have been good so far (…) but I will refuse whenever Parliament asks for something that is not its prerogative…"