Mr. Schüssel, give the EU a civilian face!”, Speech at the plenary assembly of the EU parliament on the EU council presidency, January 18, 2006, by Tobias Pflüger (MEP)

Mr. President!

First of all, I welcome the switch to the Austrian presidency. Maybe this will mean that we shall finally have concrete policies, and not only all these air bubbles that we have had under the British presidency. Yet, your programme for the EU presidency, Mr. Schüssel, is frightening, especially in the area of foreign and military policy. On the one hand, it says that there should be an open discussion on the further procedure to follow in the matter of the EU Constitutional Treaty. O.k., but the Constitutional Treaty as it existed up to now is dead. There is only missing the date for the funeral. On the other hand, those parts of the Constitutional Treaty are already being implemented that are needed for the area of military policy, and this means simply like that, without any ratification. Especially this programme in the area of military policy is problematic, especially for a neutral state. Two examples: There should be made efforts to make the Battle Groups already operational starting on January 2007. And special emphasis should be devoted to the so-called European Defence Agency.

Dear Mr. Schüssel, do not give the EU a military face. Give the EU a civilian face!

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Translated by Carla Krüger