Brussels, 15/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - “There in no longer 'old and new Europe'. This is our common Europe,” said Jerzy Buzek in Strasbourg on Tuesday 15 September in his inaugural speech as the 13th directly elected president of the European Parliament. The last appointed EP president before the introduction of direct elections, Emilio Colombo, was in the Chamber, as were Nicole Fontaine, Egon Kepsch, Klaus Hänsch, Enrique Baron, José-Maria Robles and Hans-Gert Pöttering.
This Europe had to be strong, and citizens had to see it as such; there are difficulties, but, as Hannah Arendt said: “Politics is the only area apart from religion in which miracles are possible”. The EU will have to respond to a number of challenges, in particular the economic crisis, the “most painful and difficult issue”. The EU will only succeed through solidarity and social cohesion, the EP president said. Tackling unemployment is the Swedish Presidency's priority, and Parliament will support it in its efforts.
Buzek also spoke of the need to make the best possible use of intellectual potential and the work of women who must “not have to sacrifice their careers for family and to raise children”. He also called for a more open stance on immigration that seeks to integrate immigrants, who should, in turn, be prepared to seek to integrate. Other challenges are the energy crisis and climate change. In the short term, there should be stronger links between gas and electricity networks, without forgetting the aim of a common energy policy (the time for which has come, Buzek said) and accepting a “green revolution and need to show self-restraint”. On the EU's external initiatives, Buzek said he was determined to support progress on all fronts, whether neighbourhood policy, the transatlantic partnership, relations with Russia, China, India and the emerging countries, the solution to the Middle East conflict, enlargements (“one of our most successful strategies”) or ESDP missions.
EP reform. Buzek backs a partnership with the Commission and seeks to revitalise Parliamentary debate though a raft of measures he will propose. “Our relations with the 27 national parliaments should be developed.” On human rights and a value system, the EP president regretted the tensions between Slovakia and Hungary over minorities: he is ready to help find a solution.
The words from Mr Buzek, “the man who symbolises a reunified Europe”, won the full backing of EPP leader Joseph Daul who wanted the EP to be more in line with citizens. For the S&D Group, Martin Schulz noted that “for the first time, we are not a body where European convictions are supported by the majority… There has been a dramatic increase in the number of MEPs who want to undo integration and who back re-nationalisation”.
According to the most recent Eurobarometer survey, the institution in which citizens have most confidence is the Parliament, stated ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt: let us try to justify that confidence, he urged. In agreement with the message on solidarity, joint leader of the Greens/EFA Rebecca Harms highlighted her group's analysis of the financial crisis: we do not believe that it is the fault only of “mad bankers”: the ultra-liberalism supported by some was part of the cause.
Various opinions are represented in Parliament, and those who elected us know who they voted for, said Michal Tomasz Kaminski, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformers, in a clear riposte to Schulz, while Eva-Britt Svensson, for the European United Left, said that the solution to the crises should not be sought in yesterday's policies and that public activities must not be privatised. Bruno Gollnisch (National Front) invited the EP to show “self-restraint on its areas of responsibility”. (L.G./transl.rt)