Strasbourg, 15/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the programme of the Swedish Presidency for the second half of 2009, Fredrik Reinfeldt laid emphasis on the efforts which will be needed to tackle climate change. "Our planet has a fever. The fever is rising and it is up to us to react", the Swedish prime minister, who reminded his audience that "the ice-fields of Greenland are shrinking by100 km² a year" and that "the melting of Greenland's ice alone could raise the sea level by two metres". Given this situation, "Europe must act together and in an organised way", said Fredrik Reinfeldt, adding: "we must show leadership and keep our promises. Europe is of decisive importance in ensuring that others follow its lead to reach a global agreement". The EU must also show leadership to overcome the economic situation, he said, voicing his hopes that measures can be reached this autumn to get out of the crisis.
"The fact that at the moment, three out of 10 Europeans are unemployed is an untenable situation. The objective is to implement an active employment policy which, together with an operational social security system, is capable of managing change effectively", Fredrik Reinfeldt said, going on to add: "we must increase the employability and value of the individual on the employment market, we must also activate and reactivate the unemployed. With more assets on the employment market, we will be able to provide greater support to those who are excluded from it". "The aim is for the EU to come out of the crisis stronger", he said, going on to plead in favour of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the adoption of the Stockholm Programme, in order to give the EU better instruments to guarantee a climate of security and to fight organised crime and terrorism.
Referring to the reunification of Cyprus (and what he described as a historical opportunity to reach an agreement) and of the enlargement process aspired to by various capitals, from Reykjavik to Ankara, via the Western Balkans, the Swedish prime minister promised to do all in his power to move forward the enlargement process "in line with the commitments taken by the EU and on the strict basis of the criteria which have been decided upon". "We will act as an impartial mediator", he added. Lastly, Fredrik Reinfeldt stressed the need to promote solutions to the crisis in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea and Africa. Having stressed the importance of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Eastern Partnership and a strategy for the Baltic Sea, he said: "the whole world's problems are knocking on Europe's door today. Throughout the planet- and most of all, in our immediate neighbourhood- many people's hope of a better future is closely tied in with cooperation with the EU. Let us, together, live up to their hopes".
The president of the European Commission said that unemployment must be limited as much as possible and people helped to return to work, on the basis of the remedies proposed by the Social Summit of June. He called on the Parliament to support the forthcoming proposals of the Commission on simplifying the procedures of the structural funds and the new micro-loan instrument. Although he takes the view that the regulation of the financial markets is on the right track, José Manuel Barroso says that he is concerned at the gap between the EU and its international partners over the climate, 145 days ahead of the Copenhagen conference.
The president of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul of France, said that the Swedish Presidency must be prepared for action, because it is vital to "go faster and further" both to get out of the crisis and to fight climate change. Joseph Daul stressed the importance of innovation, training and support for SMEs. In the view of the president of the S-D Group, employment policy must take priority. However, Germany's Martin Schulz continued, the greatest threat to employment is the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice: a completely erroneous jurisprudence, he said, referring to the Laval ruling. It also criticised the president of the Commission for having failed clearly to state on which legal basis the Commission would be appointed and which country would not have a commissioner if it was the Treaty of Nice. Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt put the full support of the ALDE Group behind Sweden's priorities concerning the Treaty of Lisbon, the Copenhagen conference and the Stockholm agenda. He called on the Swedish prime minister to draw on Sweden's experience (a reference to the country's real estate and financial crisis in the 1990s, which it managed to overcome). "Today, we have 27 different approaches, it will never work!", said Guy Verhofstadt, stressing that "the Americans are cleaning up their banks and we continue to have problems in Europe". The co-president of the Greens/EFA, Rebecca Harms, was highly critical of President Barroso's actions, reproaching him, among other things, for "playing off economic strategies against environmental strategies" at a time when Europe needs to create green jobs. She also pleaded for a new definition of Lisbon strategy. The Polish president of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, Michal Kaminski, supported all of the priorities of the Swedish Presidency with the exception of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. He asked the Presidency to respect the Irish no-vote. The president of the GUE/NGL group, Lothar Bisky, asked for priority to be given to the social dimension of the crisis and to taking account of political responsibilities. He wished the Swedish Presidency good luck in achieving its objectives on the climate. The Dutch populist member Barry Madlener (unaffiliated) explained that he was there to "defend the Dutch citizens" and to help them "to get back the money which should not have been paid" to the EU, whose remit should consist "solely of economic cooperation".
Responding to Mr Schulz on the subject of the treaties, José Manuel Barroso said that the Treaty in force must be respected and that the President of the Commission would therefore be approved by the Parliament under the procedures of the Treaty of Nice, in the same way that the Parliament had been elected on the basis of the same Treaty. He also said that the European Council had observed the Dehaene report. He said that he was prepared to discuss the outlines of the actions of the next Commission with all of the groups. Stating that "we do not know when we will have the Treaty of Lisbon", he said that it would be dangerous to "suspend the Presidency of the Commission, given that we are faced with a financial crisis and a social crisis and are preparing for Copenhagen meeting". In answer to Mr Verhofstadt, he defended "a common approach with national responses", stressing that with 27 national budgets and 27 finance ministers, the best that could be done was a "better coordinated European plan".
Later on in the debate, the Swedish EPP member PPE Gunnar Hökmark supported the programme of the Swedish Presidency. The Swedish Socialist Marita Ulvskog regretted the fact that the Swedish Presidency had given the priority to budgetary discipline. "Instead of this, we should be investing in training, innovation and green jobs", she said, going on to stress the need to improve guarantees on workers' rights. The Swedish GUE/NGL Group member, Eva-Britt Svensson, pleaded in favour of social rights and for a better immigration and asylum policy. The Finnish member of the EFD Group, Timmo Soini, reminded the Swedish prime minister that if the Nordic way of respecting the citizens' vote was followed, the Irish would not be asked to go back to the polls. He stressed the need to "save the Baltic Sea" and to develop the northern dimension of the EU. (O.J./transl.fl)