The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez  Zapatero, appeared before the European Parliament today to present the work programme that will steer the Government's presidency of the EU over the next six months.

He stated that, faced with new competitors on the world stage such as China, Brazil and India, the European Union must believe in itself, its own companies and workforce. Europe, he said, must also have confidence in its foreign relations to defend European interests.

“If we do not take advantage of our size and ours strengths, we shall not be leaders but mere spectators”, he added.

The Prime Minister went on to list some of those strengths, which according to him included the fact that the EU represents a large portion of the world GDP, that it is the world's leading exporter - second only to the USA in R&D investment - and that it provides nearly 60% of world development aid.

On the Presidency's work programme, Mr Zapatero affirmed that its main concern over his six months in office will be to consolidate the economic recovery and to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth that will enable the creation of stable jobs in Europe once again.

The economic crisis has led to the shedding of 8 million jobs and the deterioration of the public finances of the Member States. To tackle this situation, he said, we must intensify economic cooperation and lay the foundations for a new growth strategy (Europe 2020), giving the European Commission new powers to steer policy and achieve objectives.

Priorities for economic sustainability

The priority areas for coordination to achieve a sustainable economy in terms of competitiveness and environmental and social sustainability are the following, according to the Prime Minister:

- To create a real common energy market, for which purpose it is fundamental to increase interconnections, create a common regulatory framework and promote the development of renewable energies. The EU's energy dependence has increased nine percentage points in the last ten years (from 44% to 53%). Every year we transfer 67 billion euros to other countries, the total R&D budget of the EU.

- Stimulate innovation, with a greater investment in the information society and new technologies, making up 40% of improvements in productivity. We must eliminate obstacles, facilitate e-commerce and strengthen intellectual property rights to create a true internal digital market.

- Strengthen the fight against climate change through initiatives such as electric vehicles, which will also contribute to reducing energy dependency and increase innovation.

-    Increase the level of excellence in higher education and progress towards the creation of a European area of research. Over the last ten years we have not progressed in the ranking of European universities.

 

Mr Zapatero also spoke of the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, and assured the plenary that the Spanish Presidency “will be loyal and collaborate with new institutions” and with a strengthened Parliament and Commission.

In the field of foreign relations, he highlighted the new European External Action Service and identified security, energy, new markets, technology transfer and cooperation for development as priority lines of action.

Lastly, he referred to the need to make the EU more accessible to citizens and said that the Presidency has set down specific objectives, including the introduction of the popular legislative initiative in the EU and the promotion of new measures to ensure gender equality.

He stated that the Presidency was to be “active and militant” against gender-based violence, which he said was “inadmissible in a society as advanced as the EU’s”. He also said that he would promote new initiatives to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion.

Mr Zapatero expressed his gratitude to the EU and its Member States of 1986, the year Spain joined the Union, and expressed the EU's consternation, commitment to and solidarity with the Haitian people after the devastating earthquake suffered by the country.

• Full text of the speech
• Video: Mr Zapatero's arrival
• Video: highlights of Mr Zapatero's speech