Press release

Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates started by paying tribute to the Portuguese MEP, Fausto Correia, who died a few days ago at an early age. His death, he  said,  was a great loss to the European Parliament, and in particular to the Portuguese Socialist Party.

 

On the summit PM Sócrates said: "Europe needed a rapid agreement and that is what it got. Europe needed a sign of confidence and that is what it got. Europe needed to turn towards the future and that is what it has done."

 

 

Prime Minister Sócrates said: "It is with great satisfaction that I have come here today to the European Parliament to present you the agreement reached by the Intergovernmental Conference on 18 October. The agreement that will give birth to the new Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty that will be signed on 13 December in the city whose name it will bear."

 

In Lisbon, agreement was reached on the following questions which allowed the final agreement on the Treaty to be sealed:

 

On the Ioannina clause, the solution involved two levels:

 

•           a declaration on the decision making system in the Council by qualified majority that specifies the actual Ioannina safeguarding mechanism;

•           which is complemented by a Protocol that requires consensus in the European Council on any attempt to modify or revoke this mechanism.

 

In so doing, PM Sócrates said "we provided guarantees on the Ioannina compromise without affecting the integrity of the decision making process by qualified majority."

 

In relation to Advocates General in the Court of Justice, PM Sócrates said that a solution also had to be found to the political question on the number to be appointed. Agreement was reached on a declaration stating that the Council would give its approval to any request from the Court of Justice for the number of Advocates General to be increased by three from eight to eleven. In this case, Poland would have a permanent Advocate General and would no longer participate in the rotation system, while the current rotation system would cover five Advocates General instead of three.

 

As for the appointment of the Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, PM Sócrates said that the agreed declaration foresees that the European Parliament can use suitable contacts to participate in the appointment process even in the very first phase  in January 2009.

 

The Conference, he said, also approved a declaration clarifying the delimitation of competences between the Union and the Member States, foreseen in the Treaties.

 

And, lastly, on the issue of the composition of the European Parliament, an amendment was made to Article 9.- A of the Treaty of the European Union, defining that the number of members cannot exceed seven hundred and fifty (750), plus the President, maintaining the proportional degressivity of its representation.

 

Two declarations are added to this amendment:

 

•           one defining that the additional seat in the European Parliament will be attributed to Italy; and

 

•           the other guaranteeing that the European Council will give its political agreement on the composition of the European Parliament, on the basis of the proposal from Parliament itself.

 

The Council, therefore, PM Sócrates stated, accepted the criteria put forward by Parliament and went ahead with what it considered an acceptable adjustment, with a view to adapting the current framework during the 2009-2014 period.

 

We have a new Treaty, PM Sócrates said, a Treaty that resolves the crisis of the past and puts Europe in a position to set its eyes on the future. A Treaty with significant advances of which he highlighted the following:

 

 This Treaty:

 

 

But in the set of advances that this Treaty brings, there is one PM Sócrates found particularly gratifying to underline: the Charter of Fundamental Rights which will be proclaimed by the European Union’s three institutions on 12 December is explicitly made legally binding by the Treaty.

 

The Treaty of Lisbon now shows a Europe that is prepared, confident, sure of itself. What the Treaty of Lisbon brings is a new Europe fit for the times.

 

On behalf of the Portuguese Presidency, PM Sócrates thanked the European Parliament and President, Hans-Gert Pöttering and its representatives at the IGC – Elmar Brok (EPP-ED), Enrique Barón-Crespo (PSE) and Andrew Duff (ALDE) for their excellent collaboration, the constructive suggestion put forward and the dedication so that Europe could reach an agreement and do so quickly. He also extended his thanks to the European Commission and, in particular its President for the help they give throughout the negotiation process.

 

But, he stated, the job is not yet finished. "There is still much to be done. I want to assure you that the Presidency will continue to work with the same commitment and the same conviction as at the first hour for a stronger European in the service of a better world.".

 

 

Holding his electronic voting card, President Pöttering said: "I want to underline again, that the EP President's right to vote was not discussed at the European Council. The President of the European Parliament will, when voting, use his right to vote. Nobody can deprive him/her of this right and the European Council did not do this. I want to make this clear 'very officially.'"

 

 

European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso said that the European Summit was a summit of a united Europe of solidarity. The Treaty is the first treaty of an enlarged union, the first time states once divided by an iron curtain have together reached agreement on a common treaty.  The success of Lisbon tells us that the EU is tougher than it looks and has a strong ability to recover from setbacks.

 

It has reinforced the democratic nature of the EU: giving a clear definition of citizenship; giving legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights; giving the European Parliament a greater role in the legislative process; and increasing the rights of national parliaments

 

Some are not happy with number of opt-outs, Mr Barroso stated.  While we would have preferred to avoid these, he said, diversity is essential to the EU and needs compromises.  Despite diversity, we remain united on fundamental goals and freedoms

 

"With the Reform Treaty Europe will have the chance to shape globalisation not hide from globalisation."  When EU states cooperate we are able to solve most of the difficult  problems, he said.

 

Concluding, Mr Barroso stated that what is now needed is delivery of results and to move to ratification before the 2009 European elections.  Recent polls suggest, he said,  the highest level of support for Europe since 1994.

 

 

Joseph Daul (EPP-ED, FR) said "We now have the tools to allow Europe to work and meet the challenges of the 21st century.  Most of us would have preferred an even  more ambitious text but we welcome the text agreed in Lisbon."

 

Continuing he said that we now need to commit ourselves to explaining ourselves to our citizens; explaining better who the 751 MEPs will be and what we do; explaining citizens' initiatives and the role of national parliaments. 

 

If the Treaty of Lisbon allows the EU to be more transparent, he said, and more efficient and better able to be heard on the world stage, we need also to explain that to citizens.

 

Europe can now be a world leader in the battle against climate change.  We can work to protect the well-being and prosperity of our citizens who want to see more action from Europe.

 

Martin Schulz (PES, DE) said that Europe stands before great challenges:  the gulf between rich and poor both within the EU and in the world at large.  Climate change, where some of the world's islands know that if sea levels continue to rise, they will cease to exist.  They are not new problems, but they do require the EU to act. 

 

"The Portuguese Presidency is right to bring Africa into the limelight. We should have been doing this years ago, but since 2001 we have been dwelling on constitutional issues.  The President of the USA has been talking of a potential World War 3 and we were talking of the voting rights of the President of the European Parliament:  where is our sense of proportion?

 

Those who wail that it is the same old constitution (as I have seen in the British press) are wrong:  it falls far short of the constitution, but it is progress compared to the Nice Treaty.

 

In terms of democracy and social standards it is better as it enables us to meet challenges ahead of us. It makes Europe more democratic, more efficient and with the institutions we wanted."

 

Graham Watson (ALDE, UK) said: "It is fitting that the Reform Treaty should be signed in the city which Caesar once named ‘Felicitas Julia’. Changes like normalising co-decision, ending the tyranny of the Council veto, placing energy, and justice and home affairs under democratic scrutiny. These changes give our Union the capacity to confront the challenges of globalisation.

 

It is a pity that the Treaty is not simpler to digest, but after being butchered by the ballpoint pens of civil servants from 27 Member States what would you expect? Your famous poet Fernando Pessoa once wrote: ‘No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it’. Well, in this case, the culprit was national interest which watered down or rendered indecipherable policies and practices which are in all of our interests.

 

The real tragedy is this: we saw not a single national leader return home, flying the flag for Europe. Instead, they crowed about the opt-outs and the derogations and the exclusions which disfigured the text before us today.

 

Nonetheless, again congratulations. I propose a toast, with my glass half full, two cheers for the Lisbon Treaty. Let us hope its advances move us forward faster, and convert cynicism into renewed belief."

 

Brian Crowley (UEN, IE) said: "Whilst others may say what happened at the Lisbon Summit was shocking, I am of the firm belief that the elected representatives that are the governments of the peoples of the Member States of the European Union are entitled to defend what they see as the rights of their people within that Union."

 

I think that when we look at the overall example that has been given with this Lisbon Summit, we can see positives from it: we can see movement being made forward and, most importantly of all, an opportunity for a new zone and a new area of the development of the European Union to come into play, in particular with those areas where now codecision reigns in issues of environment, globalisation, research, education and of the necessity of the response of the European institutions to an ever-increasing speed of change within the world.

 

Allow us, where we have to connect democratically with the people, to tell them exactly what is in this Treaty and, most importantly of all, let this be a welcome to small and medium-sized countries of what can be achieved by defending their interests and rights."

 

Monica Frassoni (Greens/EFA, IT) said that her group had been "firm advocates of the Constitutional Treaty."  However, her group could not join the praise for the Reform Treaty.  "It was a case of simple backsliding on what had been achieved in the Constitutional Treaty.  The only good point was that the IGC was mercifully short."  Mrs Frassoni blamed the President of the European Convention, those advocating that referenda were not needed, and the UK government "who have kowtowed to the Rupert Murdoch tabloids and as a result UK citizens would have less rights and less democracy."

 

Francis Wurtz (GUE/NGL, FR) criticised the EU's inflexibility when it comes to the issues that concern the citizens most. These issues, including the economic and social framework of the Union and military questions of the EU's external policy, would simply be declared as "red lines" by the Union's leaders: "It is the refusal to listen to criticism that is fuelling the crisis of confidence. We are forever explaining, we are never taking the people and their needs into account."

 

Nigel Farage (IND/DEM, UK) called for referenda to be held on the Reform Treaty: "You can not push on with this project without the support of the people. Let the people speak!" He claimed that national parliaments had already been usurped by the EU Institutions.  "You loath democracy so much by now that you call it populism, you refuse to take no for an answer, you are Euro-nationalists", he said, directed primarily at the Commission and Council.

 

Jean-Marie Le Pen (ITS, FR) also criticised the fact that no referenda is planned in France and sees the Member States' sovereignty, independence and freedom at stake. He plans to launch a petition in France to propose a referendum. "This is a crime against democracy", he claimed.

 

Irena Belohorská (NI, SK) said the reform treaty would bring an improvement to the present situation. She lamented that there were countries that did not want to include the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which contained all of the fundamental values of the Member States.

 

 

Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) one of the three MEPs at the Intergovernmental Conference said: "For 26 countries the Treaty is certainly a great step forward towards European unity and certainly rivals the Treaty of Maastricht in importance. The Treaty lacks the simplicity of its late lamented predecessor, but it preserves all the principal forms. Abroad and inside the Union people will soon see a more effective, efficient and democratic Union.

 

But in one country this is not so: the British still seem intimidated by the success of the EU and have sought at the IGC to reduce the scope and force of common policies in the area of fundamental rights, freedom, security and justice and in the common foreign security and defence policies. Why such a strategy of non-cooperation is thought to serve the interests of the British people is not clear and nor does Mr Farage or the Conservative Party provide a preferable or alternative solution. It is my desire and trust that this strange, idiosyncratic British policy will prove to be as short-lived as possible."

 

 

Timothy Kirkhope (EPP-ED) expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for his statement this morning and, whilst he noted the decisions of the heads of government, the British people and the British Conservative Party have been consistent in their concerns about the Constitution and the very similar Reform Treaty.

 

"The Irish Prime Minister said at the weekend about possible referenda: ‘... why not let your people have a say. I think it’s a bit upsetting to see so many countries running away from giving their people an opportunity’.

 

Concluding, Mr Kirkhope said that we should remind ourselves of what the Laeken Declaration said. It said the Union needs to become more democratic, more transparent and more efficient, but it called also for us to engage the citizens more and not just to communicate our decisions to them. The question today is: does the Treaty respond to Laeken? Laeken asked the right questions. Have we given the right answers?

 

Ian Hudghton (Greens/EFA) accepted the need to reform the Treaties, to create more open, democratic, efficient and accountable governance. In principle he supported an extension of Qualified Majority Voting and codecision with the European Parliament, but the very diversity which Mr Barroso quite rightly referred to will always mean that national interests will be promoted. We should not lose touch, he said, with our local communities by trampling over their interests, or appearing so to do.

 

Richard Corbett (PES) welcomed this agreement, which despite a few oddities like the extra seat for Italy, he said, is a good package which deserves ratification and which will make the European Union not only function better, but also improve its democratic accountability.

 

"Tim Kirkhope asked just now whether we have answered the questions posed at Laeken about making this EU more democratically accountable and closer to its citizens. I would say that we have certainly moved in that direction. Let us remember one thing, that once this Treaty comes into force, no European legislation can be adopted without, firstly, prior examination by every national parliament, secondly, approval of the Council of Ministers composed of national ministers accountable to those very same national parliaments, and thirdly, approval by this European Parliament with its Members directly chosen by citizens, specifically to deal with European issues at European level."

 

That is a level of accountability that exists in no other international structure. We should be proud of what we are achieving in our democratic European Union, he concluded.

 

 

 

Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates said that "Europe is stronger with the new Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty boosts the European economy and creates the right conditions for Europe to play its role in the world.  Europe needs more efficiency and efficacy. Europe is now stronger and better able to deal with the global challenges it faces. Europe can move from the defensive to the offensive."  Prime Minister Sócrates also quoted Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa: "I have nostalgia for the future".  Europe can be confident again, he said. 

 

PM Sócrates also clarified that "nobody ever dreamed of the European Parliament President losing his/her right to vote. It is clear there will be 751 MEPs all of them with the right to vote".

 

 

José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission said: "I believe it would be a mistake to slow down our delivery and it would be against the twin-track strategy central to the Commission, when we said that we should at the same time solve the political institutional matters and deliver concrete results to our citizens. On the contrary, this Commission, and I am sure also this Parliament, should be active – and we could be even more active together – in promoting a European citizen’s agenda.

 

"I believe that it is right in our communication, as Mr Corbett highlighted, to explain the new democratic dimension. We in the European Union are proud to have this kind of democratic system. We can always make it better, but there is no other place in the world where there is such democratic participation at transnational level. I think we should also in communication terms make it clear that our reinforced capacity to act on behalf of the citizens in areas relevant to their concerns, like climate protection, energy and migration. Those are concrete concerns for our citizens and we are addressing those concerns. In communicating terms, we should also highlight the reinforced capacity to act in the international scene."

 

"It is true that this is not a perfect Treaty. But sometimes people say we are giving up the values and the commitment of the founding fathers. This is not true. We are doing what Jean Monnet and many others have said, that we have to build pas à pas – step by step – this common project and we have to do it conceding now that we have to commit to our citizens, we have to fulfil concrete tasks, that we have to deliver concrete results. The Summit of Lisbon concentrating on the Treaty and institutions and on the second day showing the way for globalisation and the way we can together reinforce our capacity to act so that we can meet the challenge of globalisation is setting the agenda for the future of Europe. So it was a great success and I think that the Portuguese Presidency, the Member States, the European Parliament and the Commission should really commemorate this fact and look at the future with renewed confidence."