Summary: EU Parliament President Borrell's farewell speech to the House (15 January 2007: Strasbourg)
In his final speech to Parliament as President, Mr Josep Borrell delivered a wide-ranging review of the EP's work over the last two and half years. He was convinced that "Parliament is better known and more widely recognised today" than before. Enlargement had been managed successfully, with the MEPs from the new Member States having integrated well into the EP's transnational political groups and taking up many positions of responsibility.
Another success was the adoption of a common statute for MEPs, so that they will have equal salaries and a transparent expenses regime.
When asked to approve the new European Commission team in 2004, Parliament had shown "political maturity" in rejecting certain proposals it regarded as inappropriate, thus showing "that it is not a paper tiger".
Legislation - REACH and Services Directive - EP role key
On the legislative front, among big issues where the EP had played a key role were the rejection of the software patents directive and the approval of the services directive and the REACH chemicals regulation. And without Parliament's cooperation, an agreement on data retention would not have been reached.
The EP had also taken the initiative on various issues, including setting up committees to investigate alleged illegal activities by the CIA as well as the financial disaster that befell many citizens as result of the collapse of the Equitable Life insurance company in the UK.
MEPs had backed the Constitutional Treaty and now wished to be involved in efforts to find a solution to the "crisis" faced by the EU. Mr Borrell was pleased that "the German presidency has told me it will ask the EP to designate a representative for this task, alongside the Commission and the Member States".
External affairs - Euromediterranean Parliamentary Assembly a highlight
Mr Borrell also highlighted Parliament's role in external affairs. It had sent election observation missions to 26 countries, including Ukraine, Palestine, Afghanistan, Congo and Venezuela. Various heads of state had visited the EP, including Viktor Yushchenko, Hamid Karzai and Mahmoud Abbas. He also underlined the importance of Parliament's Sakharov Prize for human rights, and said that human rights had become one of the "core elements of Parliament's identity".
The Euromediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, of which Mr Borrell was president for a year, was also of great importance to Europe, he emphasised, "because Europe's biggest geopolitical problem is its relations with the Islamic world, because the Mediterranean is the most unequal border in the world, because its basin condenses all the problems of our age".
Many European citizens were afraid of globalisation but this was certainly a challenge best faced by European collectively. Turning to energy, he was "convinced that Europe can find a new reason for its existence focused around the inseparable issues 'energy and environment' ".
Concluding, President Borrell invoked the Spanish poet Antonio Machado and one of the founding fathers of European unity, Jean Monnet, to emphasise that "nothing can be done without the continuity of institutions". He was deeply honoured to have been President of European Parliament and he wished the next President every success.
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