During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the EU Council, and Maroš ŠEFCOVIC, Commission Vice-President in charge of Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration, speak about the conclusions of the European Council meeting (16 September 2010).

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

ŠEFČOVIČ, Maroš (SK, EC)

VAN ROMPUY, Herman (BE)

European Council meeting 16 September 2010 (T)

Conclusions of the European Council meeting (16 September 2010): extracts of statements by the Council and the Commission

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, New players do not always share our interests and our world views and the Lisbon Treaty requires the EU COuncil to define a Union strategic interest and give strategic directions to the work of other institutions, I am glad that Heads of States and Governments all agreed to take this up and deepen their involvement in the EU Foreign Policy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, We need more strategy, we have developed ideas on how to position ourselves vis a vis China , we have to tuned them further, so thanks to the EU COuncil discussion when the President of the Commission and I meet the Chinese prime minister in Brussels two weeks from now , we will not just speak for Brussels, we can also speak on Behalf of the 27.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, The Middle East Peace negotiations is a strategic interest for the EU. We adopted a specific declaration on this issue in line with our common position of December 2009. We are involved in the process via the Quarter. Our neighbourhood for instance, Western Balkans and their European perspectives and the Eastern partnership is of the highest importance. Our reputation in the world starts with stability on our own Continent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, The free trade agreement with South Korea is an issue of great external importance .It concerns a vital relationship with our 8 largest trading partners and beyond that with the whole of the Asian economy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, On Pakistan we want to give maximum support to this country after it was so severely struck by devastating floods . More aid and more trade, we want Pakistan to recover now and to develop economically.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, Our Heads of states and governments want to continue the work and to keep the momentum. We have a large consensus on some of the most important issues like the macro economic surveillance bank framework, this will monitor and correct imbalances, risks of bubbles and divergence in competitiveness. There is also agreement on strengthening fiscal frameworks enshrining European budget rules in national legislation

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, A member state has the right and the duty to take action to uphold the rule of law within its territory two, the Commission has the right and indeed the duty to ensure compliance with Union law by Member States and has the right and indeed the duty to conduct investigation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of European Council, The prohibition of all form of discrimination based on nationality or ethnicity is a founding principle of the EU (applause from the Chamber), respect for human dignity is of our core values.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, We need to reach a position when President Van Rompuy and President Barroso speak for the EU at the Summits they do so with the authority that comes from a genuine consensus and combine commitment of the EU and Member States to a shared agenda , so the Commission believes it was an important first step to recognize specific interest in the relations of each of our strategic partners and now to deliver the same and consistent message to our partners worldwide.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, The package will have three objective, first to reinforce Member States compliance with stability and the growth pact, second to broaden economic surveillance to take up imbalances and third to make economic surveillance work better through incentives for compliance and financial sanctions progressive, fairly applied and coming early enough to work effectively.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, We will not compromise on the respect for Community law and we will defend our European values in full . So we have been working at whether EU law has been respected on free movement and anti discrimination. and we are now on the phase of legal analysis and very soon the analysis will be looked at by the college itself. But we must not forget what is important and essential, and this is alleviation of the plight of Roma and their better integration.