mr president may i first congratulate the swedish presidency on progress at the recent summit in developing the european union's position on climate change
tackling climate change is one of our highest priorities and is the kind of issue where we expect and want the european union to take a strong lead
the balanced and measured agreement on financing arrangements is very welcome and places the union in a strong position as we work towards copenhagen
but i must mention the debate that now seems to dominate europe's agenda the appointments of the president of the european council and the high representative
we should start by defining clearly their scope and nature and then we should establish the qualities and experience of the people needed to fill them
surely it is logical for the european council to invite formal nominations and to hear candidates perhaps including mr verhofstadt ahead of the decision
instead the discussion is degenerating into a shabby debate between government leaders who appear only to be interested in sharing out jobs amongst themselves be it from small or large countries north south east west left or right and not whether someone is actually the best candidate to take the responsibilities
what is worse some have even tried to divide the european union into two classes of citizenship by saying that only individuals coming from a member state in the schengen area and in the euro area should be eligible
that i am afraid is discrimination which is unacceptable and this on a day of history when we remember all those who have fallen in warfare and in a week when we have remembered the horrors of kristallnacht and the tragic events which followed and where we have celebrated the achievement of all those who contributed to the fall of communism in poland where it began in hungary in the baltic states in countries throughout eastern and central europe and of course ultimately in berlin
it is right to fight for freedom and values for all not big jobs for the lucky few
