ROMANO PRODI President of the European Commission Avrupa Birliği Komisyonu Başkanı Challenges for European Integration at the Beginning of the 21st Century Fifty years ago, a group of far-sighted Europeans chose reconciliation rather than war. They opted for peace based on interdependence rather than mutual destruction. They decided to abide by the rule of law rather than play power politics. And so the foundations were laid for our Community of Peoples and States. This cooperation has created a new European identity. It has encouraged trade on an unprecedented scale. It has made stability and growth possible. It has led to the birth of the euro. And it will bring reconciliation to the whole continent when the Union embraces up to a dozen new Member States in coming years. We must make a success of enlargement. This is a turning point in our history. The next few years will be decisive for the future of European integration. There are times when peoples are called to affirm and define their reasons for being together. For the peoples of Europe such a time has come. Since late February, the Convention on the EU's future has taken up its work. It includes representatives from national parliaments, the European Parliament, Member State governments and the Commission. The 13 candidate countries are also participating and civil society is associated in the Convention's work via a special forum. This is the first time that major treaty changes are prepared by a Convention before being decided on by an intergovernmental conference. The Convention is to address all major challenges facing the EU today. It will look for ways to reshape the enlarged Union, to make it viable internally and to transform it into a global player with real influence in international politics. The Commission will set about the work of the Convention in three stages: First, we need to clarify what Europeans want to do together. This means deciding what the very essence and nature of the future European project should be. Only once a common understanding has been reached on this fundamental point will it be possible, in a second step, to define the competences. This means deciding who should do what. Thirdly, we need to look at the institutions. Let me first concentrate on what I see as our future European project. The Commission believes that European integration has value added in four key areas: the economy, external relations, justice and home affairs, and innovation and research. These are the four areas where I believe the key policy challenges lie. The EU must take them up if our integration process is to carry on successfully. 1. Let me explain what I mean in greater detail, beginning with the economy. The success of the euro has a clear political meaning. It tells us that there is a demand for a strong,united Europe. And it tells us that we have the capacity to satisfy that demand. Now that the euro is in circulation, we must complete the structure of European economic policy. We hear constant criticism that the Stability and Growth Pact is too inflexible. That is unfounded. The rules are sound, but need to be strengthened, because the euro makes our countries even more interdependent. The independence of the European Central Bank is the cornerstone of our monetary system. But the euro area needs a coordinated economic policy to complement the ECB's common monetary policy. If Member States do not coordinate their budgetary policies, we may have adverse effects throughout the euro area and the credibility of economic and monetary union may be undermined. I see a clear need to improve our joint assessment of the economic situation in the euro area. There is also a need to define a common set of rules governing economic policies. This should provide the basis for improving dialogue with the monetary authority. Apart from the euro, our common economic strength rests on the single market. But the single market still needs to be completed. I am pleased that the recent Barcelona Summit finally made progress in the right direction, in particular as regards the liberalisation of the energy and financial services markets. But we must not confine ourselves to laying down new rules and opening markets. Competition and social protection are not mutually exclusive. Each can enhance the other. The EU has a responsibility to strengthen the European social model. Our societies must continue to be inclusive, and economic cohesion between our Member States is vital to ensure balanced overall growth and sustainable development within the Union. 2. In external relations, the vital point is that if we do not speak with one voice, the EU will wield no real influence. The fight against terrorism and the crisis in the Middle East show this with stark clarity. In areas where the EU has been able to act as a single body, the Union is already a global player. This is true above all for trade policy, where we are on a par with the US, as the current negotiations in the World Trade Organisation show. Let us not forget that we are a major economic power and the world's largest donor of development aid. In the defence field, we have made good progress in building up a European Security and Defence Policy since the late 1990s. But the gap is widening on the defence capability side. A vital step to overcoming our current dispersal of effort would be a genuine European armaments policy. In foreign policy the EU is assuming a leading role, both politically and militarily, in bringing stability to the Balkans. The EU is engaged alongside the US in working towards brokering a peace deal in the Middle East. And the EU is shouldering a considerable burden in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. But in many areas our influence remains limited because of our internal divisions. We will have to find ways of strengthening our external representation to make it more effective. 3. The Union needs to build up a common area of freedom, security and justice alongside the single market. But the right balance must be found between security requirements and civil liberties, between diversity and the necessary harmonisation. We must unite forces at EU level to com bat transnational organised crime and terrorism. We must set up the right instruments to improve police cooperation and make Europol stronger. Control of our external borders should be a joint task. Such control would benefit all Member States, and those along the external borders should not bear the costs and responsibility alone. We also need to develop common EU policies on migration and asylum. We need a genuine European area of justice that guarantees the compatibility of the different national legal systems. 4. I will wind up this short overview with research and innovation, which lay the foundations for Europe's future growth. To ensure our future competitiveness, the EU needs to bring our different potentials into synergy through better transnational networks and joint financing. To strengthen our common identity and cohesion, the EU must ensure that Europeans know and understand each other. This calls for encouraging language learning, training and mobility. In the context of the Convention all EU institutions should call themselves into question. The Commission is ready to redefine its own tasks. It is ready to consider giving up part of its responsibilities and take on new ones in fields where the future of Europe is at stake. I acknowledge the importance of a better and clearer division of competences. But owing to the very nature of the Union, I believe that many EU competences will continue to be shared between the Union and the Member States. The Union is not a State and it is not our goal to transform it into one. It is and should remain a Union of States and Peoples. So better ways of organising the joint management of competences shared by the EU and the Member States could in practice turn out to be more important than dividing them up more clearly. It will also be vital to ensure the system can adapt to new requirements. This is why I am not in favour of a hard-and-fast catalogue of competences. The Commission is the guardian of the Treaties. As such it will do all it can to ensure that the Union evolves in a way that is true to itself. To date, the institutional basis of our integration process has been the Community method. Everything we have achieved, from the single market to the euro, rests on this method and on the delicate balance of powers it ensures between the institutions. The originaity of the Community method lies in the way tasks are devided up: the Commission alone has the right to make proposals, which the Council and Parliament decide on. This gives the Commission the necessary leverage to carry EU decision-making beyond the basic minimum, beyond the "lowest common denominator" that can be agreed by the Member States, and to safeguard the general interest of the Union as a whole. Since its inception, this method has been different from both pure intergovernmentalism and full integration. The intergovernmental approach would not have provided the necessary drive towards integration, while full political integration would probably have been unacceptable to the Member States at the time. Today, within the Convention, we are once again debating the method on which to base future integration. The Commission is in favour of clarifying and developing the present system rather than creating an entirely new one. We therefore advocate the Community method the Union has applied so successfully over the past decades. We believe that this method can also provide the basis for successful integration in a far larger Union. Of course, we are aware that the method was designed for a Community of six Member States. If the EU is to function with twenty-five or more Member States, it needs to be reviewed. To wind up, let me give you a brief overview of our general views on this. A first step to modernising the Community method would involve a clearer separation between the Council's executive and legislative functions. If we want government in Europe to function more openly, when the Council is acting in its legislative capacity, its meetings should be open to the public, just like Parliament sessions. If it is to continue to be effective, the Council should as a general rule take decisions by a qualified majority. Only very limited areas should still be subject to unanimity. The European Parliament should co-decide all legislation together with the Council. Parliament should have full rights over the budget, both revenue and expenditure, just like any other parliament in democratic societies throughout the world. In this context we should also strengthen the link between the Union's citizens as taxpayers and the EU budget. This could be done by financing the EU budget to a greater extent from own resources rather than by contributions from Member States's Finance Ministries, as is the case today. As a result the EU's budgetary system would be more transparent and more accountable. It would also help to reduce the Member State rationale for "asking for their money back". As to the Commission, we are convinced that its role as protector of the Union's general interest should be not only preserved, but also strengthened. Enlargement will increase the differences between the EU Member States. An enlarged Union will not be able to function effectively without an institution focused on the general interest. This can only be the Commission. The Council is where the Member States defend their national interests. As such it can only produce "negotiated" solutions converging on the common denominator of the Member States. And the arithmetics are simple: the more Member States there are, the smaller the scope for potential agreement. The European Council has the important task of taking decisions and providing strategic guidance. But it cannot take over the Commission's role. The key to the Commission's capacity to watch over the Union's general interest under the Community method is its exclusive right of initiative. This ensures that legislative proposals before the Council and Parliament reflect the general interest as closely as possible. And in today's system the Member States can only amend a Commission proposal if they are all in agreement. The Commission believes that this crucial element of the Community method needs to be preserved. It should even be extended to other areas of justice and home affairs. As regards the Common Foreign and Security Policy, we are in favour of strengthening the powers of the High Representative and making the latter a Vice-President of the Commission. Such a reform would allow us to develop a comprehensive external policy framework, encompassing diplomatic action, trade policy, development policy, security and defence. It would ensure that the EU speaks with one voice and has all foreign policy instruments at its disposal. Lastly, the Treaties must be simplified and made easier for citizens to understand. The Commission has proposed that the Treaties should be divided into two parts: a basic orconstitutional Treaty and a second part containing more technical provisions that could be amended without complicated ratification procedures. Europe needs the Union. It needs a larger and stronger Union. And the Union needs your support and active constribution to the current debate if it is to carry out the things we need to do together. The Commission is ready to play its full role in the service of the citizens of Europe for whom our Union exists. ROMANO PRODI: "21. YÜZYIL BAŞINDA AVRUPA ENTEGRASYONUNUN KARŞI KARŞIYA OLDUĞU GÜÇLÜKLER" Avrupa Birliği (AB) önümüzdeki dönemde bir dizi yeni üye ülkeye kapılarını açmaya hazırlanıyor. Geçen Şubat ayında kurulan Konvansiyon, Avrupa entegrasyonu için kader belirleyici olacak bu dönemle ilgili çalışmalarını sürdürüyor. Konvansiyon öncelikle Avrupalılar'ın birlikte neler yapmak istediklerini, bu çerçevede kimin üzerine ne gibi görevler düştüğünü ve ilgili kurumlarla ilgili neler yapılması gerektiğini belirlemeye çalışıyor. Biz de Komisyon olarak süregelen bu entegrasyon çalışmalarının ekonomi, dış ilişkiler, adalet ve içişleri ile yenilik ve araştırma olmak üzere başlıca dört alanda Avrupa'ya katma değer sunacağına inanıyoruz. Ne var ki, bu sürecin daha sağlıklı yaşanabilmesi ve genişleyen Birlik'in ihtiyaçlarına cevap verilebilmesi için mevcut yapı ve işleyişte de bazı değişiklikler yapılması, örneğin AB Konseyi'nin, Avrupa Parlamentosu'nun, AB bütçesinin çalışma ilkelerinin değiştirilmesi gerekiyor. Diğer yandan, genişleme süreci sonrasında üye ülkeler arasında oluşacak farklılıklar Komisyon'un da yeni görevler üstlenmesini gerektiriyor. Ortak bir dış politika ile ortak bir güvenlik politikası belirlenmesi de yeni Birlik'in dış dünya ile tek ve tutarlı bir ses halinde iletişim kurmasını sağlayacak bir ihtiyaç olarak ortaya çıkıyor. Son olarak, mevcut AB antlaşmaları üzerinde de hükümlerin yalınlaştırılmasını sağlayıcı değişiklikler yapılması gerekiyor.