Today's Date:

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I’d like to talk to you about some of the EU’s major priorities in the coming months.

CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY/RATIFICATION/25-MEMBER EU

First of all, ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. It can’t be taken for granted. We all know how referenda can easily be hijacked, in France as well as in our European neighbour countries. This is why, as soon as the Treaty is signed, we’re going to launch an ambitious, pluralist and open debate so that the French can understand what is really at stake in this Constitution. (...)

The entry into force of the Constitutional Treaty is a necessary condition for the success of the EU enlargement. By reducing the size of the Commission and modifying the voting rules in the Council, the Constitution will bring in the reforms the EU needs. For the moment, I think the EU has to give itself time to take in the historic enlargement it has just gone through.

Before welcoming new members – aside from Romania and Bulgaria, expected to join in 2007 – we have to learn how to operate with twenty-five. The divisions born of the Iraq conflict have today become much less marked. The bitter Iraq experience, and the feeling of some central and eastern European countries that they had been used, has very probably contributed to this. But the intergovernmental conference confirmed the existence of tensions within the EU, resulting, in particular, in the coalition of small and medium-sized countries worried about the big States’ influence. There is also – why not say so? – a certain suspicion vis-à-vis the Franco-German model, sometimes perceived as hegemonic and completely oblivious to the concerns of the smallest States. There are apprehensions and misunderstandings here which we have to dispel.

EU BUDGET

Long-term, the success of the enlargement will also depend on our ability to show solidarity with the new members, including on the financial front. This is one of the challenges of the new financial perspective for 2007-2013. This financial period will be difficult: we want the EU to give itself the wherewithal to carry out its priority policies – I'm thinking particularly of the competitiveness strategy. At the same time, the cohesion policy must be fairly ambitious in order to support the modernization of the new members. Given the constrained budget, this will necessitate inevitable sacrifices from those of the Fifteen who were, until now, the main beneficiaries of the structural funds.

NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY

At the same time, we need to devise a neighbourhood policy worthy of the name. This is a challenge for the EU which has never managed to offer a credible alternative to accession. The Commission's proposals for the "new neighbours" go in the right direction, but aren't ambitious enough.

Initially, the aim of the "new neighbours" initiative was to develop a partnership relationship with these countries on the basis of mutual commitments, including in the political sphere. But this presupposes that we are in a position to offer concrete new benefits to our partners. This isn't always the case. I'm thinking particularly of our Mediterranean partners in the Barcelona Process, which next year will celebrate its tenth anniversary: these countries find it hard to see what the neighbourhood policy adds to the association agreements they are already benefiting from. We must involve the "new neighbours" more closely with the major European programmes, develop a system for them comparable to that of the structural funds within the EU, as Michel Barnier has suggested, and enable them to benefit from the fruitful experience of the EU administrative twinning projects which contributed to the success of the enlargement.

EU CONSTITUTION/EUROPEAN DEFENCE/WTO/DEVELOPMENT/ENVIRONMENT

With the Constitution, the creation of a European foreign minister and structured cooperation in defence, the EU should give itself the wherewithal to exercise more effective influence on world affairs, to be the genuine global player we so want it to be.

Already, European defence is making headway, the EU is playing a leading role in the WTO and in the fora in which development and environment policies are decided. No credible diplomatic action can be devised and implemented without reference to the EU.

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We must act in all the areas of strategic influence in Europe. We are working on these with Michel Barnier and the whole government. The proposals you make during this conference are going to give us food for thought. (...)./.