Brussels, 26/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Wednesday afternoon, outlining the Commission's strategic objectives for the next five years to the European Parliament plenary session (Europe will return to the Commission's programme), the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said that over the next few years, 'We must release Europe's enormous untapped potential. We must restore the dynamic growth in Europe which can bring back full employment and provide the foundation for social justice and opportunity for all.' The prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, made sure he attended the presentation (the first time a President of the European Council has spoken in a debate on the Commission's programme, commented Hans-Gert Pottering, President of the EP's EPP-ED group). Juncker said that the programmes of the Luxembourg and British Presidencies for 2005 were a spitting image of the speech by President Barroso. Juncker said citizens don't ask whether Europe is the Commission, the Council or the European Parliament (to which British MEPs shouted 'Hear, hear!' to which Juncker said that some compliments were nicer than others). He went on to say that ways now had to be found of showing citizens that this convergence exists. He said the President of the Council, Jean Asselborn, would be adding the Barroso Commission's programme to the agenda of the General Affairs Council of 31 January.
In his brief talk, Jose Manuel Barroso said that the Commission had the same day adopted its programme of upcoming legislative work. He sketched out a broad outline of the Commission's strategy for the next five years, which went down well with most MEPs, adding: 'Our vision is for an ambitious European renewal across a continent. We must take the Lisbon Agenda for growth, which for five years has underperformed, and turn in into an effective tool for a continent facing economic decline… We must release Europe's untapped potential on a continental scale. This process of renewal will require political vision and determined European leadership. We must generate a new political will. We must shift core beliefs, open minds, and create a new political climate…. We have a clear vision of a Europe we can build together, founded on economic dynamism, strengthened in its social justice and bonded together with greater social cohesion.' Solidarity was needed in terms of the economy, social affairs, between generations and, most importantly, it had to be sustainable. European solidarity cannot stop at the borders of Europe, and Europe must not have the illusion it can act in isolation, said Barroso, stressing the importance of the EU's neighbourhood policy, effective multilateralism and a new strategy for Africa. When it comes to security, Barroso stressed that citizens were not only concerned about internal and external security issues, but also about protection from natural disasters, environmental and health crises and hazards encountered in transport systems. To deal with what Europeans feel is too many technocrats, greater communication was required, he said, along with transparency and a sense of optimism. In order to increase the flow of information to the European Parliament, Barroso said that the Commission would supply a regular list of expected initiatives for the month to come. Once again, Barroso was at pains to warn that for the negotiations over the Financial Perspectives for 2007-2013, all the European Commission wanted was for the EU to have the financial resources required to meet the commitments made by the EU's heads of state from one European Council to the next. On the request by six 'net contributors' to the EU's budget that an upper limit be set of 1% GDP for the 2007-2013 period, and to resounding applause from the MEPs, Barroso commented that 'we have come to a point where I hear ideas of reducing the EU's budget below the level of 2006 even - is this realistic? Is this feasible?' Once again, Barroso said that Europe cannot be made with less money, and agreement has to be reached on the Financial Perspectives in June 2005, but the Commission will not go along with an agreement 'at any cost'.
Most MEPs support the Commission's programme - Criticism from the Left and Eurosceptics
Most of the European Parliament's political groups supported the ideas expressed in the outline of the Barroso Commission's strategy, but there were protests from the Left and, more stridently, from Eurosceptics. Hans-Gert Pottering, President of the EPP-ED group, said Europe had to be able to make people confident, and recognise everyone's contribution. Still concerned about the Stability Pact being respected, the CDU MEP asked the Commission to continue to act as Guardian of the Treaty, saying that the Member States should not decide on their own fate themselves. He said that if Commissioner Almunia follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Pedro Solbes, he can count on our support. The President of the Socialist Group, Martin Schultz, was also encouraging, telling Mr Barroso that “we wanted to see if the glass was half-full or half-empty” and, even if we could not expect “a glass of red wine” from you, we have decided to consider the glass to be half-full, as you have some good plans, although they are missing things we would have liked to see in your programme. You are a good listener, Mr Schultz told the President of the Commission.
From the same group, former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was more critical. You tell us that you want to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, and then your Commissioner Neelie Kroes says that the poor regions of rich countries are not to receive any more aid, he said (see p.13). French Socialist Pervenche Bérès stressed the scale of the challenge faced by the Barroso Commission: finally to make the Lisbon Strategy a reality “by giving it real tools”. This relaunch of Lisbon should be based on ample financial perspectives and a Stability and Growth Pact capable of guaranteeing competitiveness, job creation and sustainable development, she said. Graham Watson, President of the ALDE group, also stressed the need for a community budget on a par with the ambitions of Europe's leaders: we cannot afford to be “parsimonious”, he warned. The former president of the committee on civil liberties also pleaded for a broad discussion on the relationship between internal security and civil liberties. Quoting Jean Monnet, who said that real Statesmen are those with long-term objectives others cannot see, the British Liberal Democrat voiced his hopes that Mr Barroso would be able to prove that he is a genuine Statesman. The same confidence in the abilities of the Commission President were voiced by Brian Crowley, co-president of the Union for the Europe of Nations group, who said that Mr Barroso has “political courage” and “a truly European vision of what Europe should be”. Europe should be “a global leader” in the fight against poverty, famine and AIDS, said the Irish MEP with his customary passion.
Francis Wurtz, President of the GUE/NGL group, was considerably more critical. It has taken us a long time to recognise the “failure of the Lisbon Strategy”, but the remedies proposed are “extremely dangerous”, he said, reiterating the “liberal orientation” of the Barroso Commission. The French Communist is calling in particular for: a “democratic control of all public funds paid to businesses, in order to ensure their usefulness in terms of employment”, and “a serious examination of the effects of liberalisation before more are proposed”. One thing, however, seems to be to his liking: the fact that “for the first time, the Bolkestein directive has not been quoted” in the Commission's programme. May I hope that you are going to withdraw it? he asked Mr Barroso. Slightly less overtly critical was the Belgian Green Pierre Jonckheer, who hoped that the Commission would do more for sustainable development and renewable energy, and that it would make sure that the REACH legislation on chemicals would be genuinely at the service of health and the environment. Your proposal on the financial perspectives is, in fact, not the bare minimum, it is not enough, he complained. Downright negative, the co-president of the group Independence and Democracy, Jens-Peter Bonde criticised the CAP (20% of beneficiaries receive 80% of its actions), the discrimination suffered by the new Member States, “the army of lobbyists” coming to Brussels to demand money.
In the Ind/Dem group, UK Independence Party MEP Roger Knapman spoke of a “travesty of democracy”, stating that the Prodi Commission, “a defunct Commission”, should have been in the hot seat. Within the same group, the Dutch member Johannes Bokland spoke out against the planned European external relations service, “which the citizens do not want”, he said. Ashley Mote, who has left the ranks of UKIP to join the independents, was even more virulent, calling the Commission “part of the problem, not part of the solution”, and advising it to throw the Lisbon Strategy “into the dustbin of history”. I would like to see a more efficient EU but with fewer objectives, said Swedish Social Democrat Lena Ek (the only Socialist MEP to have voted against the European Constitution in the January session: Ed). Czech independent MEP Jana Bobosikova told Mr Barroso that she failed to understand what he meant by “European citizenship”, I do not know what being a “good or a bad European means”, because where I come from, we judge people on the basis of the party they belong to.
A slightly more encouraging message came from former Polish Foreign Minister Miroslaw Geremek (ALDE), who told Mr Barroso: you talk about “partnership, and I like that, and you talk about renewal, which sounds a bit like renaissance to me, and I like that too”.
Recalling that Europe has long since basked in the reflected glory of its universities; Mr Geremek exclaimed: please; “do not prevent Europe having a cultural policy in the name of subsidiarity”. Other MEPs emphasised other aspects: Austrian social democrat Hannes Swoboda, for example, mentioned foreign policy, noting that being a “soft power does not mean being a weak power”, quoting the example of the effectiveness of the EU's external action in Ukraine and Iran. Roberta Angelilli (UEN, Italy) demanded that the European Parliament have a discussion on the Stability Pact before the March Council, and also that President Delors' idea of financing European public investment through “Community bonds” be relaunched.
“You will see that the Commission is doing what it said it would” as the objectives are translated into precise projects, said President Barroso, following a long debate, saying that the first concrete application of these objectives should be in the review of the Lisbon strategy and confirming that the Commission will present its ideas on this subject next week. I will work in complete “cooperation” with the Parliament, Mr Barroso once again promised.