Speech Barroso voor parlement Slovenië (en)

SPEECH/06/139

José Manuel Barroso

President of the European Commission

Visit to Slovenia

Ljubljana, 1st March 2006

Mr President,

Honourable Members,

Firstly, I would like to express the great personal satisfaction I feel at this moment on addressing your Assembly.

This is my first official visit to Slovenia as President of the European Commission, and I am delighted to be here.

I am also glad to have the opportunity on this visit to speak to you, the elected representatives of the Slovenian people, because I am keen for the European Commission to keep in close contact with national parliaments. We are very committed to this direct contact with elected representatives and the citizens of Member States and that is why I'm particularly happy to be here today for this visit with Margot Wallström i and Janez Potocnik i.

And finally, it is a pleasure to address you less than two years after your country's accession to the European Union. This event - of historic significance for us all - marked the culmination of a long and arduous process and rewarded the tenacious will of the Slovenian people, to whom I offer my congratulations.

Slovenia has always considered itself to be profoundly European. And, what is more, by stretching form the Alps to Mediterranean while also embracing the lowlands of Panonia in fact one could easily see Slovenia as a microcosm of Europe. Yet the successive geopolitical upheavals which marked the history of this region of Europe meant that your people have had to wait for centuries for their dream of independence to come true.

Through the ages, this dream has taken the form of fostering the Slovenian language, which doubtless accounts for Slovenia's remarkable intellectual and cultural fecundity, of which you are so rightly proud. European literature ows much to writers such as to writers such as Drago Jan?ar, Boris Pahor, Vladimir Bartol; or poet like France Presern.

Even while still striving for its independence - so hard won and so long awaited - it was natural for Slovenia to want to link its destiny to that of Europe . So it is a very great pleasure for me to congratulate you on your country's remarkable success in achieving political and economic integration into the EU and to give a rapid rundown of the current state of European affairs.

2005 was a pivotal year for Europe, with many difficulties, as you are well aware. Although we managed to overcome them together, it was very positive for instance, the agreement on the financial perspectives amongs Member states -- we decided the time had come to reflect in depth on what we are trying to achieve and how we can achieve it.

In saying `no' to the Constitutional Treaty, the citizens of two Member States forced us to reflect on Europe's future and the shape our common project should take.

It is now time to stop lamenting an outcome which we would have preferred to have been different and turn it into something positive.

If we listen to our citizens, what do we hear? That they are worried, mainly about their jobs, but also about their social protection schemes and their health services, their children's access to higher education, their quality of life and their environment. Europe is indeed part of the solution to those problems.

No individual Member State has the size, power or cohesive force of the European Union. So it is clearly at Union level that we can most effectively tackle the challenges common to us all.

We may be experiencing difficulties adjusting, but this is because we were economically unprepared for the challenges of globalisation. This problem cannot be blamed on the single market or on the last enlargement - the opposite is true. It is not for me to tell you, the main participants in and witnesses of your accession to the Union, about the momentum it has generated. Nor is there any need to demonstrate the economic benefits and stability which it has brought.

Clearly, no-one wants to pretend that everything in Europe's economic, social and demographic situation is perfect. But our main problem right now is one of confidence.

How can we regain the vital confidence of our citizens? This is the basic question which we all need to ask ourselves - European institutions, governments, national parliaments, social partners, and civil society alike. What is at stake is not only our common project but also our common values.

If we want to preserve the values of peace, freedom, democracy, solidarity and cohesion, to which we all subscribe - from Ljubljana to Dublin and from Lisbon to Stockholm - we need to be able to demonstrate to our citizens that we can meet the challenge of globalisation, and harness it in such a way as to increase their economic and social wellbeing. And we have what it takes to do so.

Moreover, the time we have given ourselves for reflection is already bearing fruit. We have resolutely turned the page and have taken control of our future.

First, at last October's Hampton Court Summit the Heads of State or Government of the 25 Member States and the European institutions took on board their responsibility and agreed that it was time to determine the key priorities for a forceful joint initiative to be launched immediately with a strong consensus on the need to focus on priority issues essential to the wellbeing of our citizens:

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  more and better jobs;

proactive and forward-looking measures to cope with demographic ageing in Europe, which is impacting on our social protection systems;

higher education and research, which are the key to innovation and our future competitiveness;

security in all its forms, in areas including health, consumer protection, migration and terrorism;

and the issue of energy, the importance of which has been highlighted by recent events.

Next, the Member States have taken active steps to deliver on the new Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs by presenting their national reform programmes to the European Commission.

I would like to stress that the Member States are fully playing their part in following the roadmap which is designed to give fresh impetus to growth and job creation. They have made clear commitments, one of which is to increase the share of GDP allocated to research, a key factor in the promotion of competitiveness. They have also taken note of the need for constructive policies to tackle the problem of funding pensions and healthcare.

In its assessment of Slovenia's national reform programme, which is considered promising, the European Commission stresses that growth has remained robust in recent years and that measures have been put in place to ensure that 3% of Slovenia's GDP is earmarked for research and development by 2010. The report praises what has been done to simplify legislation and to cut the length of time it takes to start up a business, both steps in the right direction. But it also draws attention to a number of improvements that need to be made, including development of the knowledge-based economy as one of the ways of tackling youth unemployment. The goal is clear: to make Slovenia more sustainably competitive so that it can achieve a long-term prosperity which gives due regard to social and environmental issues. 

The reforms undertaken by Slovenia are very much in line with those defined by the other EU Member States, allowing of course for specific national characteristics. We are all striving for the same goal: a Europe that is open, prosperous and successful!

The new momentum triggered by the implementation of the Lisbon strategy on the ground, in other words in the Member States, has got off to a promising start, thanks to the determined involvement of all the stakeholders and the putting in place of the proper tools. We now need to move on to the stage where we actually deliver what our citizens expect of us.

And lastly, we have launched our Plan D for democracy, dialogue and debate. Plan D is an integral part of the period we have set aside for reflection, or rather what I prefer to call "active reflection", designed to reconnect with our citizens and build our future together.

What exactly is this all about? Our aim is to listen to people and engage in dialogue across the Member States in an attempt to build a new consensus on the policies that will equip Europe to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

We want to hear what the citizens of our 25 countries have to tell us about their hopes and fears, and give them a chance to speak, something they feel has all too often been denied them. On globalisation they expect very specific and highly visible action. This is why we have put in place specific tools and a common framework which will help to structure the wide-ranging debate which is now starting.

But we also intend to use this plan to talk about Europe, to explain to our citizens what it is all about. This is why groups at all levels need to mobilised. And first and foremost you, that means you the national parliaments, who are by definition our key partners. You represent the essential link between the European institutions and the citizens, with whom you have an especially close relationship, and at the same time you are in a position to motivate, even pressurise, national governments!

This is why it means so much to me to address you directly, ladies and gentlemen, to ask each of you personally to help integrate European issues fully into your party programmes and into Slovenian political practice. Take ownership of Europe! Make sure that European affairs are given their rightful place in your plans for national and local initiatives. Europe is not foreign policy; it is the domestic policy of 25 countries!

So debate Europe, the issues on its agenda, its added value and its perceived shortcomings but above all its policies and their immediate impact on daily life. Remember when it comes to relations with your electors, you are the face of Europe!

Ladies and gentlemen,

I firmly believe that we have put in place the means for our success: firstly, political will; secondly, the machinery for action; and thirdly, the conditions which should help win back the confidence of our citizens.

Now it is up to us move up a gear in implementing the Lisbon strategy for growth and job. It is up to us to listen to the citizens of Europe, to shape with them tomorrow's Europe. But, above all, it is up to us to build, day after day, a Europe that delivers. We have no time to lose!

And for my part, what I want to see is a Europe that is open, a Europe confident in its ability to step into the future, a Europe that is dynamic and able to innovate, a Europe that is united and pluralistic, a Europe that is true to itself and to its values.

A number of key European milestones are fast approaching for Slovenia: the introduction of the euro, scheduled for 1 January 2007, accession to the Schengen area in the autumn of 2007, and the Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2008. All truly symbolic for a Slovenia that is both at the heart of the European Union and European at heart!

Thank you.