It is a great pleasure and honour for me to stand at this tribune in my capacity as President of the European Council in order to present you with the priorities of the Greek Presidency at the Council of the Union.  In the past I have had the opportunity to participate in the proceedings of the European Parliament in the capacity of President of various formations of the Council and to witness how useful and how necessary is parliamentary dialogue in the framework of the European Union.  

The Greek Presidency wishes to cooperate as close as possible with the European Parliament at all levels.  We are looking forward to this cooperation not as a formal, systemic obligation, but as a substantive and indispensable partnership for the promotion of our common goals.  We will take advantage of each and every opportunity for a fruitful cooperation.  The forthcoming implementation of the Treaty of Nice grants wider powers to the European Parliament, in particular through the  “co-decision process”.  On the part of the Council we will implement all relevant arrangements pertaining to a more active role of the European Parliament at the legislative process of the Union.  

Greece is among those member countries that aspire to and support the strengthening of the role and of the powers of the European Parliament.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We live through a historic era of transformation of Europe during which we all, the Council, the Commission, the Parliament as well as our peoples, are called to contribute; to give our support to the course towards European integration, in a larger Europe, of 25 or more member states, that is being built and develops on our common values, the values that have guided our steps during the last fifty years.  A Europe that fosters growth and prosperity for all, that strengthens its societies as well as their cohesion and solidarity;  A strong Europe in a multi-polar global system that strives for peace, cooperation and justice.  

We have the responsibility not only to work in this direction but also to convince with concrete policies that Europe focuses its interest on its peoples, its citizens.  This is the interest for a common future for all, in a community of values.  

We shaped the priorities of the Greek Presidency not only in our effort to respond to the challenge of the transformation of Europe, but also to the challenge of a state of affairs that is characterised by international economic recession and all sorts of insecurities that tantalize our societies:  competitiveness deficit and stagnation of the economy, unemployment, new forms of social exclusion, criminality, uncontrollable migration flows, fragile social security systems.  We have to take concrete steps in order to cope with the uncertainties of today.  We have to eliminate the sources of individual and collective insecurity, to shape a more rational, just and free living environment that will create more and more possibilities for everyone.  

At the same time we have to turn our attention to the sources of crisis that give birth to uncertainties and risks in the periphery of the Union, be it the fragile state entities in the neighbourhood of the Union or the raging crisis in the Middle East or international terrorism.  We need a Europe with constant presence and a single clear voice on the international scene.  

The main message codifying the content of the Priorities of our Presidency is  “Our Europe:  Sharing the Future in a Community of Values”.  It is a message underlining the common future that links us all together, the current and the new member states, the citizens and the peoples of Europe.  It is a future shaped by common values and goals;  A future of which everyone can partake creatively, without exceptions or exclusions.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For the purposes of the planning for the Greek Presidency we collaborated, in accordance with the decisions of the European Council of Seville, with the following Presidency of Italy in order to forge an operational annual Action Plan for the Union.  

I will briefly dwell on the five sets of priorities:

First set:  The enlargement.  The completion, on the level of the Union, of the process leading to the accession of the ten new countries into the Union.  This is a development with quantitative and qualitative characteristics that usher in a new era in the history of Europe.  The Greek Presidency will proceed to the substantive and procedural arrangements for the Accession Treaty to be signed on April 16, in Athens.  The role of the European Parliament in this process and its  “assent”  are decisive for the accession of the new states.  

At the same time, we will pursue even more actively negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania in order to implement the new pre-accession strategy with the two countries.  The  “monitoring”  procedure for the implementation of the  “acquis”  will continue as foreseen.  The objective is to respect the timetable for the accession of the two countries in 2007 after the fulfilment of the necessary criteria.

The Presidency will deal actively with the pre-accession course of Turkey.  Greece believes that Turkey must find its place among the European family, on the basis of existing European Council decisions.  We have to offer Turkey the unique opportunity to implement the reforms that will bring her closer to us.  Such reforms will create perspectives and possibilities for its people, similar to what we have been offering our peoples.  The reforms will bring about more democracy, freedom, prosperity, peaceful co-existence and cooperation.  Turkey will thus become integral part of the European area of rule of law.  The European Council of Copenhagen decided in favour of a strategy leading to the start of accession negotiations with Turkey.  The next two years will be crucial for this country.  Greece, both as Presidency and as a member-country wishes to assist the process that will allow Turkey to fulfil the criteria for the launching of negotiations.  

Against this background, the shaping of a new accession partnership is among the goals of the Presidency.  

The transformation of the Union must not stop at today’s candidate countries.  We have acknowledged that the Western Balkan countries are  “eligible”  to become members;  If and when these countries fulfil the relevant preconditions, they must find their place in the European edifice.  

At this point, I would like to address the issue of Cyprus.  We want Cyprus to join the European Union as a re-united country.  We want the two communities to participate in a common future and enjoy the advantages and the benefits of the accession.  From the outset, we saw in the  “Annan Plan”  a basis and a starting point for a solution to be found for the political problem.  We have been working in this direction and we keep our efforts up in a consistent way and in order to achieve a solution by February 28.  

At any rate, Cyprus will become a member of the Union, as agreed in Copenhagen, while the possibility will remain open for the solution of the Cyprus issue and the implementation of the Community  “acquis”  on the entire island.  

Second Priority:  The reform of European economy and promotion of social cohesion.  

The Spring European Council of 2003 will take place in a political and economic conjuncture with considerable problems but also opportunities.  In the course of the year that just went by, the introduction of the Euro has been a milestone.  It sent out the message of integration, of stability, of confidence, the monetary autonomy of the countries of the European Union in the face of international uncertainties.  

The Greek Presidency is of the opinion that today, the Lisbon Strategy is more pertinent than ever.  We have made a series of decisions, it is now important that we see them materialise.  The decision for the shaping of a set of guidelines every three years for the main tools of structural policy  (General Economic Policy Guidelines  -  Guidelines for Employment  -  Strategy for the internal market)  constitutes an opportunity of crucial importance.  It is a crucial opportunity for the modernisation of the European economic and social model.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is in this context that the Greek Presidency has defined six critical sectors in which we have to implement as well as build upon the Lisbon Strategy.  

First, the issues of macroeconomic policy, in order to assure the credibility of the European economic policy.  The need for  “economic governance”  is more than obvious today and we will work in this direction.  

Second, the creation of more and better jobs and the deepening of solidarity and social cohesion.  

The Greek Presidency attaches a lot of importance to the review of the European Strategy for Employment.  The relevant debate will allow to raise the social pillar of Lisbon on the same level of importance with that of economic reforms;  The discussion will focus, among others, in fighting unemployment, promoting policies for active aging also through the lengthening of working life, the equitable participation of women, reducing regional inequalities concerning the labour market and unemployment in particular with actions in remote areas.  

Third, enhancing enterpreneurship and strengthening small businesses.  The Presidency attaches a lot of importance in fostering entrepreneurship in the light of its importance not only for economic development but also for social cohesion, employment and regional development.  

The Competitiveness Council of March will convene before the Spring Summit in order to prepare the points related to entrepreneurship and competitiveness.  It will emphasise the promotion of innovative ways to accelerate the implementation of the European Charter for Small Businesses, the evaluation of current policies, as well as the substantive debate on the Green Paper on entrepreneurship.  

Fourth, the building of a knowledge- and innovation-based European economy.  

One important effort of the Presidency will be to find a compromise solution on the European Patent.  

The Presidency will also emphasise the promotion of research in state-of-the-art technologies, including research in the field of defence.  

It will also promote the implementation of  e-Europe  for an information society for all as well as the progress of  Erasmus  that will enhance mobility in higher education.  

Fifth, the deepening of the interconnecting of Europe.  

The efforts of the Presidency in this respect concern in particular a fully fledged and operational deregulation of the energy and transport markets, the expansion of trans-European energy and transport networks, the integration of financial markets, as well as the promotion of a single services market.  

The Greek Presidency will also try to make progress regarding the integration of the European Transport Network  (and most particularly that of the accession countries)  into the Trans-European networks.  

Another issue of particular interest is the maritime safety as well as sea pollution.  The Presidency supports the improvement of maritime navigation and tries to achieve a quality European merchant marine.  

Sixth, safeguarding future prosperity through sustainability.  In this field, the review of the Strategy of the Union for sustainable development on the basis of the conclusions of the World Summit of Johannesburg holds a prominent position.  We have an opportunity to demonstrate the global leading role of Europe in the protection of the environment and the adoption of policies that can conciliate development and environmental protection.  

The third set of our priorities concerns the very sensitive issue of migration, illegal immigration, external borders and asylum.  Migratory flows have assumed unprecedented proportions and create new economic problems to the Union.  It is time that we took a decisive step in the direction of addressing these problems.  

Our primary objective is to ensure that the Union is defined as a genuine  “area of freedom, justice and security”  for its citizens, free from any form of organised crime, xenophobia and racism;  and also, as a multicultural area of understanding of the problems of humankind and of their causes, such as poverty, misery and political oppression.  

In the same vein, we are going to try to have adopted the Directives adopted concerning family reunification and immigrants who are long term residents.  In the chapter of Asylum we want to pursue the Directives about  “refugees”  and the provision of subsidiary protection.  We intend to implement common actions in the light of the Seville conclusions  -and to prepare new ones on the basis of the expected proposals of the Commission for a fair distribution of the burden that is incurred by the guarding of the common external borders of the Union;  we also intend to implement the policies on asylum and repatriation.  We must secure additional resources in order to improve the guarding of our sea and land borders, for accommodation infrastructure for illegal immigrants and to cover the cost of their repatriation to the countries of origin.  Accelerating negotiations in order to sign readmission agreements with third countries that are sources of migrants is in our eyes of crucial importance.  

The fourth set of priorities concerns the central question of the  “Future of Europe”  and the proceedings of the Convention.  Greece believes that the enlargement of the Union must be accompanied by the deepening of European integration.  The enlarged Union should evolve into an institutional system that will guarantee efficiency accompanied by democratic processes and policies that are of relevance to the citizen.  

Thus, Greece, in its capacity of President of the Council, attaches particular importance to the work of the Convention and welcomes the progress achieved so far by the Convention during its proceedings.  The participation of all parties involved has greatly contributed until today to the emergence of ideas, proposals and plans for the future architecture of the European Union.  It is worth noting that the Convention has embarked on the elaboration of a draft Constitutional Treaty.

As we decided during the Summit in Copenhagen, the Convention shall have brought its work to a conclusion before the European Council of next June.  This will allow the European Council of Thessaloniki to deal effectively with the issue of the  “Future of Europe”;  to undertake all substantive and procedural action that will lead to the convening of a new Inter-Governmental Conference for the introduction of a new Constitutional Treaty.  

With regard to the debate during the Spring Summit, some kind of exploratory debate will have to take place, without prejudice to the work and the decisions of the Convention.  

Based on the outcome of proceedings of the Convention, we will mainly try to achieve the three following objectives for the European Council of June:

• First, a substantive debate on the outcome of the proceedings of the Convention  -  Draft Constitutional Treaty.  

• Second, the determination of the date for the start and if possible, for  the end of the proceedings of the new Inter-Governmental Conference, while taking into account the positions expressed by certain member-countries for an interim period and also the need to organise a short Inter-Governmental Conference.  

• Third, the definition of the  “mandate”  for the IGC.  

The fifth set of priorities concerns the international profile of the Union and the strengthening of its role as a pole of stability, peace and cooperation.  

In the European Security and Defence Policy we intend to assure full operational readiness in the field of crisis management through the deployment of military and non-military capabilities.  We will emphasise the achievement of the Headline Goal and the conclusion of permanent arrangements for E.U.–NATO cooperation.  We also attach a lot of importance to the adequate preparation and execution of European operations in the Balkans, specifically in Bosnia-Herzegovina and FYROM that will constitute a first practical test of the operational capabilities of the European Union.  

At the same time we should see that the enlargement and the new borders do not become new dividing lines and do not impinge on the legitimate interests of our new neighbours.  It is from this angle that we should envisage the further strengthening of the relations of the Union with neighbouring countries;  (This includes the new Common Strategy with Russia which is in the pipeline, the Summit at Saint Petersburg in May 2003 as well as relations with the Western Balkans, the Ukraine, the countries of the Caucasus region and the countries of the Mediterranean).  

To illustrate the above, we will focus our attention to:

• The Balkan region and the strengthening of the  “stabilisation and association process”.  In this respect we are organising the Second Summit of Balkan countries in Thessaloniki, in June;

• Our cooperation with the USA and our Atlantic partners in order to offer a common response to global challenges in the political and economic field as well as to terrorism;

• The re-launching of the peace process in the Middle East;

• The development of our relations with the African Continent with the organisation of the EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon on April 5, 2003;

• Our relations with developing countries as well as the big global problems such as the protection of the environment, combating poverty, sustainable development and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  

During the following months we may be faced with an armed conflict in Iraq.  The issue is of concern to us and it is a priority in our agenda.  We want peace and we are working for it, as well as for the peaceful resolution of all differences.  We are working so that the efforts of the United Nations lead to a positive outcome and that war is avoided.  The will and the resolutions of the UN must prevail.  Iraq must fully comply with the Security Council resolutions.  

The Presidency wishes to represent Europe as a union of states with a single strong voice and opinion.  Securing international stability, abolishing the threat of weapons of mass destruction and peace are common goods and aspirations of us all.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would now like to refer briefly to two or three issues of particular interest to the European Parliament:  

First, with regard to the status of the Members of the European Parliament, a good deal of systematic work has already been done and the issue has been adequately discussed.  I believe that the question is mature enough for a solution.  We will do our utmost so that we reach this solution at the European Council of Thessaloniki.  

Second, with regard to the  “Inter-Institutional Agreement for better legislation”  in the European Union,  which will contribute effectively to the upgrading of the quality of legislation, we will keep trying in order to be able to achieve an agreement during our Presidency.  

Third, we will also try to conclude with the regulation for the European Political Parties.  

I briefly dwelled on some central issues without any intention to ignore equally important issues such as the reform of the CAP, the development of the European Defence Industry, or the measures for maritime safety.

It is our intent that the Greek Presidency give a new impetus in the evolution of the Union;  An evolution characterised by the strengthening of the Union, politically, economically, socially;  An evolution convincing that Europe is not just standing by its citizens but it is embracing them in a community of values, in a common future for all.

Honourable Speaker of the European Parliament

Honourable Members,

I am looking forward to the closest possible cooperation with you.  This is a sine qua non precondition for the success of our Presidency.  

Thank you very much for your attention.