Shared responsibility

An EU that is determined yet prudent; able to tackle the main problems of European integration yet without neglecting the defence of national interests: that sums up the French President’s view. “It’s a critical moment for Europe. I feel all the responsibility for it as current President of the Union. But it’s a responsibility that I know how to share with all convinced pro-Europeans”, declared Nicolas Sarkozy, French President who now chairs the EU Council, on his return from the G8 summit at Hokkaido (Japan). On Thursday 10 July Sarkozy presented his programme for the six months’ French Presidency of the European Council to the European Parliament. It was a speech that that took into due consideration the problems arising from the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon, though without renouncing specific proposals to “give to citizens the answers they await from Europe”. Lisbon Treaty, finding the way out together. “How can we overcome the dissension we now encounter in the EU? How is it possible to prevent the immobility by which we are faced” and which “threatens to prevent us from pursuing the results that citizens expect from Europe?”. The recipe proposed by the French President, especially after the rejection of the Treaty by Irish electors, is to “proceed together, all 27 member states”. “On 21 July I’ll be in Dublin to listen” to the government in office, “to understand the reasons for the Irish rejection. I will then propose, in October, or at the latest in December, a way out” of the institutional impasse. “The Treaty of Lisbon will not resolve by itself the challenges by which we are faced – explained Sarkozy -, but there is no doubt that it’s the best possible compromise. And I would also say that there won’t be another Intergovernmental Conference, nor will there be a new Treaty. All we have to do is establish whether we’ll go to the elections for the future European Parliament in June 2009 with the old system of the Treaty of Nice or with the new one defined at Lisbon”. “Europe has paid for its divisions”. Sarkozy then declared, in his speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, that he considered “the EU enlargement in 2004” and later accessions “a success”. “Now it’s the turn of the Balkans – he added -. But if we cannot solve the institutional question first, we cannot further enlarge the frontiers of the EU. That’s why we need to ensure that the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force” soon. Sarkozy then specified: “I don’t exclude that one day we’ll have a two-speed Europe”, with an inner core of more integrated countries and a circle of states only partially involved in the European project. “But we must also remember that in the past Europe has paid a high price for its divisions. We must therefore reflect carefully before leaving any states behind or excluding others”. The French President then made a direct reference to Poland: “This country has made enormous strides” towards democracy and Europe, “also thanks to the work of individuals like Lech Walesa and John Paul II. Can we now lead the Poles to think that it was easier to get rid of Communism than it is to stay in the EU?”. Respecting the environment and protecting EU businesses. The French President then concentrated on the priorities he had announced for the programme of the six months’ French Presidency of the European Council, with particular observations on energy and climate, immigration, European defence, agricultural policy, research and culture. The project for the Union for the Mediterranean, on the other hand, has been placed on the backburner. This is a project on which Sarkozy had expended a lot of energy in recent times, and which will be on the agenda at the summit in Paris on Sunday 13 July. As for climate change, Nicolas Sarkozy underlined the urgent need to approve (“within the semester”) the EU climate change package that has long been under discussion. “We must be united to prepare for the Conference in Copenhagen next year on post-Kyoto. Otherwise we won’t succeed in imposing our convictions on the Chinese, Indians and Americans”. This package will also involve burdens for European businesses (energy-saving production methods and eco-compatible measures), whose products – in Sarkozy’s view – must be protected against those imported from countries that fail to respect the environment. Olympic Games: “We can’t humiliate the Chinese”. After the address of Sarkozy, to whom the chamber gave a long ovation, a lively debate developed, with the intervention of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, of all the heads of the political groups and numerous MEPs. In his reply, Sarkozy said among other things: “I have expressed my wish to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the Olympic Games and I defend this decision of mine”. The President explained the reasons for his decision to attend the ceremony, which has aroused some misgivings in EU circles. “I think we’re all agreed on the need to ensure respect for human rights throughout the world. But I’m also convinced that each person can have his own opinion on how to achieve this objective”. “We cannot humiliate all the Chinese, a quarter of the world’s population. We must instead keep alive a frank and open dialogue” to underline those fundamental rights and liberties “that we defend as Europeans”.