Hans-Gert Poettering, Chairman of the EPP-ED Group
Hans-Gert Poettering is the leader of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the 267-member European People's Party - European Democrats group (EPP-ED), and has a clear vision of how to restore public confidence in the European Union. Poettering, who belongs to Angela Merkel's CDU party, has written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his capacity as President of the EU, and to Commission President José Manuel Barroso, with a plan for increasing support for the EU.
Poettering’s five-point plan envisages; 1 Increasing the Union's legitimacy by adopting parts of the Constitution on fundamental rights and democratic values; 2 Setting new priorities for budget spending; 3 Ensuring that new EU legislation boosts rather than lowers competitiveness; 4 Rethinking current planned enlargements, especially as far as Turkey's membership bid is concerned, and; 5 Showing a capacity to act.
Despite the rejection of the European Constitution by French and Dutch voters and the failure by EU leaders to reach agreement in June on the 2007-13 budget, Hans-Gert Poettering doesn't believe that the EU has been plunged into terminal crisis. In his letter to the heads of the EU institutions, he argues that the current situation could serve as an opportunity and could see Europe "emerge strengthened once again".
Nor does the EPP-ED leader accept that the Constitution is dead. He points to the "yes" vote by Luxembourg and the unanimous ratification by Malta's Parliament in July as signs that the Constitution lives on. “Luxembourg's yes is psychological support," he says, adding that the ideal result of the current pause for reflection agreed by EU leaders at their mid-2005 summit, to allow for a debate at European and national level, should be a "process so the Constitution can legally and politically come into operation". Poettering would like to see Parts I and II of the constitutional treaty, which deal with the democratic values of the EU and enshrine the Charter of Fundamental Rights, being adopted and coming into force.
In Poettering's view one way forward could be for the two countries which voted no to hold fresh referendums. "We need to get an answer from the Netherlands and France. A second referendum shouldn't be excluded," he says. He dismisses suggestions that it is arrogant on the part of European politicians to say the Constitution should still be adopted in spite of the French and Dutch no votes. "All countries are equal. France and the Netherlands can't decide for all 25 member states of the European Union", he argues.
Although some observers have blamed Tony Blair for the limbo now surrounding the Constitution, Poettering is in principle positive about Blair's agenda for the EU and his emphasis on the need to boost competitiveness. "Blair stands for reform of policies of the EU and this is welcome", he says. The EU's budget should have a greater focus on research and development policy, he says, while there is a need to discuss agricultural policy reform, including the co-financing of aid payments to farmers where member states finance part of their receipts, an idea that is strongly supported by Poettering's CDU party.
For Poettering, Franco-German co-operation will continue to be essential for taking the European Union forward. But he stresses that there is a need to be more inclusive. "Mrs Merkel knows we have to take all countries with us for the European project," the EPP leader observes. Under Socialist Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, however, Poettering believes that Franco-German co-operation has been seen as the alliance that should dominate all others, and that gave the impression that the European project is “against our American friends”. This approach cannot work in future, he argues, because many EU members could never accept that, so it risks dividing the European Union.
Poettering says he expects the other main change in German government policy will be on enlargement, especially on Turkey where the CDU-CSU has said that Ankara should be offered a privileged partnership rather than full membership. Poettering argues that taking a different approach to enlargement is an essential part of restoring citizens' faith in the Union while avoiding future problems that stem from integrating immigrants from Muslim countries. "People in the EU are afraid of further enlargement", he says. While Croatia is a real European country, Turkey is "totally different", he argues. "If you take religious freedom for Christians, nothing has changed. Turkey has to go a long way to reform society", he says. While he admits that Turkey is a great country and a loyal NATO partner, Poettering warns that further rapid expansion of the EU, especially to big countries with another cultural background, would increase problems, not diminish them. However, he also points out to the fact that there are different positions in the EPP-ED Group towards the question of Turkish accession to the European Union.
The EPP-ED leader emphasises that his group shares Blair's focus on efforts to fight terrorism, especially in the wake of the London bombings. He says the group will play its role in adopting the necessary measures to tackle extremism and violence when they come before the European Parliament. "Our group has been in favour of such things as exchange of data, surveillance of public places and so on. When legislation comes before the Parliament, my advice to the EPP-ED will be to do its utmost to save human life. We have to defend people in Europe against attack”, he argues.
Hans-Gert Poettering was interviewed by journalist Simon Taylor.