European Parliament
Alessandro Battilocchio (NI ).
(IT)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I speak on behalf of the new Italian Socialist Party. Last week I took part in an interesting international conference in Brussels on the role of the European Union in promoting democracy around the world.
A large number of third-country representatives emphasised their confidence in the support that the EU can give to democratisation processes and hence to the promotion of geopolitical stability and peace at a global level. The enlargement process and the neighbourhood policy have both proved to be effective mechanisms for pursuing these objectives. I realised that their expectations were very high, but I also realised that the democratic process in Europe is still sometimes imperfect and that certain institutional adjustments are necessary.
Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, which the Commission proposed for the current year, is a first step in the right direction, but, for the EU to play the role that it deserves in international affairs and foreign policy, it needs first to confront a number of basic issues that it can no longer put off addressing. For the sake of brevity I shall mention three of them: firstly, ratification of the Constitution; secondly, the question of the single seat in the United Nations; and lastly, but no less importantly, energy security. The EU needs to be able to launch a strategic plan for renewable and alternative energies so that it will no longer be in a position of weakness in relation to its largest partners and so that it can intervene firmly – that is, regardless of economic interests – even in the most serious crises.

