mr president i want to support a strong external action service with geographic desks covering the whole world responsibility for the european security and defence policy and combining council and commission functions on planning conflict prevention and crisis management
but i do want to agree with mrs malmström that this is not prejudiced by retaining responsibility for trade development and enlargement in the commission which is why i have collaborated with my colleague mr gualtieri on an amendment to paragraph six c supporting bringing together eu development policy programming and implementation
the critics should understand that there are problems in the existing system
a high representative with no direct responsibility to us in parliament duplication of functions between council and commission splits between eu special representative and commission heads of delegation human rights sometimes ignored for trade and geopolitical interests etc
this major reform of the lisbon treaty has to be made to work and will do so
finally to mrs ferrero-waldner i know she will be containing her excitement following the intervention of the uk independence party and she understands that british embassies are not up for sale
