French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday debated his country's six-month European Union (EU) presidency with members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
In his last speech to a plenary session of the European Parliament, Sarkozy said France had sought to organize the work of its EU presidency on the basis of two convictions: that the world needs a strong Europe and that Europe cannot be strong if it is not united.
France's six-month EU presidency, which ends on Dec. 31, 2008, was characterized by many crises: the Georgia-Russia military conflict, the global financial crisis as well as intra-EU problems such as the Lisbon Treaty and the energy and climate change package.
Many political group leaders welcomed Sarkozy's and the French government's swift and successful reaction to events in Georgia, and the rapid reaction to the economic and financial crises. Other political group leaders criticized the French Presidency for backing down on the climate change package and for relaunching the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty despite Ireland's "no" vote in June.
Speaking of the Georgia crisis, which broke out in August, Sarkozy said his main aim had been "to stop the war and not fall into the same trap as in Bosnia," where the United States had taken the lead and the EU followed. He said it had been a "real obsession" of France's EU presidency that Europe should take responsibility over Georgia. Sarkozy brokered a peace deal between Georgia and Russia to end the conflict.
Sarkozy said unity had been crucial in reaction to the global financial crisis. If EU countries and institutions had not taken responsibility, this would have led to "the destruction of the European banking system," he said.
"We in Europe want entrepreneurial capitalism not speculative capitalism," Sarkozy said. "We have said this with one voice. Our economies and our political cultures are not the same, but we all agreed in the end."
Sarkozy said the EU had an enormous fight about climate change and energy because each member state had reason for dissatisfaction. Unanimity had been important to ensure that any deal would be implemented, he said.
On the Lisbon Treaty, Sarkozy pointed out that the Czech constitutional court had just indicated that the ratification process of the treaty could go ahead, leaving Ireland the only member state where the issue has not been settled. He hoped for a positive result from a second referendum in Ireland by the end of 2009.
Sarkozy urged reconciliation of national interests and EU interests as a whole. "However European you are, Europe is not the enemy of the nations and the nations are not the enemy of Europe," he said.
The Czech Republic takes over the EU presidency on Jan. 1, 2009.
Source:Xinhua
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