Brussels, 15/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox's message to the Heads of State and Governments in Barcelona on Friday morning, when addressing the press, was that he hoped that the European Parliament would be a dependable partners, capable of delivering what was expected of it, given that part of the Lisbon Strategy requires the adoption of legislation through co-decision. The press statement was made after his meeting with EU Heads of State and Governments and before the work of the European Council of Europe had begun. Mr Cox rapidly provided an update on what they had achieved in order to make good the deficit in the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. Mr Cox spoke of "spontaneity" before receiving warm applause, which was then followed by seven or eight other interventions. He briefly referred to Tony Blair, who provided the tone, he believed, to the Barcelona Council, and illustrated that the British Prime Minister had admitted that in the past he had regarded the European Parliament with a certain scepticism but had found Mr Blair's speech remarkable in its spirit and a step forward. Other speakers included Messrs. Aznar, Verhofstadt, Rasmussen and Persson - Editor's note). Why was the speech received with such applause? Because Parliament had delivered the biggest slice of legislation in quite a time, and before the Barcelona ha d begun. Mr Cox also pointed out that there had been important votes during the week in Strasbourg, particularly that on the liberalisation of the energy markets, with five MEPs voting for liberalisation in line with the Commission timetable and one voting against (see EUROPE 13 March page 14 and 14 March page 11). President Cox explained that a decision on the Community patent had not been reached because time had run out (report by Ana Palacio, Editor's note). Mr Cox did, however, refer to the aircraft noise issue (see EUROPE 14 March page 12) and explained that he had asked José Maria Aznar to attend the EU/USA Summit on 2 May, as he had managed to find a solution to the "hushkits" dispute.
Pat Cox stated that he had invited President Bush to visit Parliament but a date still needed to be fixed, and confirmed his intention (in front to the Summit participants) to strengthen the quality of legislative dialogue between Parliament and the US Congress.
On the issue of Council-Parliament relations, Pat Cox illustrated to Heads of State and Governments, some of the ideas he had for improving inter-institutional dialogue, which he had raised in a letter to José Maria Aznar (see EUROPE 8 March page 5). He informed the press that same morning that he had launched an appeal to establish this dialogue at the "highest political level" in order to better legislate and improve governance. He was happy to announce that these ideas were going to be discussed by Heads of State and Governments during their exchange of views at Barcelona on the subject of Javier Solana's report on Council reform (see the summary of Solana's report in EUROPE 13 March page 5).
Pat Cox will campaign in favour of the Treaty of Nice if there is another referendum in Ireland. Questioned on the ratification of the Treaty of Nice in Ireland, Mr Cox announced that he was going to campaign in favour of a "Yes" vote if a referendum is arranged. He explained that he had been involved in the five referendums on Europe since 1972 and that he intended to be active in such a campaign and act with, "conviction and compassion". Mr Cox explained that if he needed "space", with regard to possible sensitivities on the subject, he would ask the Vice President, David Martin, to chair a number of meetings for a certain period.