By Yves Leterme - 10th August 2010
“We Europeans seem, too often, to have lost the belief that tomorrow will be better”
Yves Leterme
Some people are considered to have everything to make them happy. But quite often these ‘happy’ people, to the amazement of those around them, fail to count their blessings, and instead feel frustrated, unhappy or even depressed over what they don’t have. The same could be said about Europe.
Seen from the outside, our continent has everything needed to be happy. The European Union has spread open government and peace across almost the whole continent, and has created unprecedented prosperity through its common market. Moreover, in my travels I have encountered, all over the world, a real ‘désir d’Europe’, a wish that the EU would play a larger role in the world, in favour of peace and cooperation. But this continent does not count its blessings.
In Asia, the energy, drive and ambition are almost tangible. The US still believes in itself, in spite of all its problems. Having the World Cup in South Africa has given that continent a shot in the arm. Only we Europeans seem, too often, to have lost the belief that tomorrow will be better. This is what we have to address first and foremost. We must restore European confidence and ambition in the EU. This confidence is needed all the more as we look to address the major challenges ahead.
We have built the five priorities of the Belgian presidency around those challenges. The first challenge is, of course, that the EU must reconnect with sustainable economic growth, by way of an economy that is competitive, innovative, low carbon, and growth oriented.
The path towards that goal is the new common strategy for growth and jobs, the so called EU 2020 strategy, which sets ambitious goals for the year 2020. Sustainable growth requires financial stability.
The European commission has drawn up a set of proposals to prevent a repetition of the adventurism which plunged us into the worst financial crisis since the crash of 1929. Belgium will endeavour to see two very important proposals finalised during its presidency: the establishment of a European supervisory authority for the financial institutions, and a regulatory framework for the hedge funds sector.
To prevent another euro crisis, we are very much in favour of stronger economic governance. Again the commission has been working on a set of 20 proposals to that end. The Belgian presidency hopes that, in close cooperation with the European parliament, we can draw up a road map that leads to the implementation of the proposals by the end of 2011.
Under the heading of economic growth, there is an issue which we would really like to see resolved under our presidency, that of the EU single patent that has been 30 years in coming. We handicap our companies in the international arena by imposing on them the heavy cost of applying separately in each EU member state. Sustainable growth requires social cohesion. This is the second axis of our programme. We have to get more people into work and we have to lift more people out of poverty.
Respect for our planet – a planet which we do not own but hold in trust for future generations – is the third major challenge. The EU leads the world in protecting the environment and tackling climate change. But that is not sufficient, as was made painfully clear at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen last December, where the EU was sidelined and other powers took the decisions.
The EU has to develop more leverage to get other major players on board with our ambitious programmes. Only this way will the upcoming Cancún conference produce concrete results. This brings me to the fourth challenge – the external dimension of the EU. Belgium will do everything possible for a smooth and successful start to the new European diplomatic service, which will enhance the visibility and the credibility of the EU.
Last but not least, there is no sustainable development and social cohesion without security, which is our fifth main theme. Under the Stockholm agenda, Belgium attaches great importance to the elaboration of a common approach to asylum policy, the fight against terrorism, and the fight against the ignominy which is people trafficking, of which women and children are the main victims.
To tackle all these challenges, Belgium firmly believes we need more Europe. More Europe means, in the priorities and objectives of our presidency: endowing the Union with a new financial regulatory structure; strengthening its economic governance; stimulating its return to sustainable growth; consolidating its social model; enhancing its capacity to innovate and developing its diplomatic service.
We look forward to a close and cooperative relationship with the European parliament in realising our common ambitions for Europe.
