Merkel called for unity, saying: "Let us undertake these presidencies in a united national effort."
Successful policy on enlargement
Merkel spoke highly of the process of admitting new countries to the EU, saying: "The European Union's policy on enlargement has been a success story. It has brought democracy and freedom to the European continent."
She stressed the need to insist on compliance with accession criteria in negotiations with new candidates, adding that this is not meant as a threat but rather as an incentive. She renewed her praise of the agreement reached by EU foreign ministers on how to proceed in the current membership negotiations with Turkey.
Merkel noted: "With its signature in July 2005 Turkey agreed to implement the Ankara Protocol. What is involved here is no small matter. It goes without saying that candidates for accession and EU member states must recognize each other diplomatically." She said she considers the EU's reaction to Turkey's policy to be "calm and considered".
The suspension of a number of chapters in the negotiations as well as the annual progress reports are intended to act as an incentive to speed up reforms and, at the same time, to make it clear to Turkey that it will have to do more.
Moving ahead with the constitutional treaty
"We need a constitutional treaty for Europe," Merkel noted. "It will be our task during our presidency to devise a plan on how to move forward." This plan must be completed by the end of the presidency in June 2007.
Merkel: "I would consider it a failure of historical proportions if we did not manage to address the substance of the constitutional treaty in such a manner that we will be able to achieve results by the next European election."
She said she would work to ensure that the future constitution is based on fundamental values, i.e. freedom, justice, democracy, the rule of law, and respect of human rights.
Unity on EU foreign policy
Merkel observed that Europe needs to speak with a strong voice and that this will only succeed if the EU countries are united on foreign policy issues. Creating this unity will be one of the central tasks of the German presidency.
In this context Merkel expressed her intention to revitalize the Quartet's efforts to bring about a settlement of the Middle East conflict.
Shaping globalization
A focus of the G8 presidency will be to discuss global social and environmental standards.
"The German government is definitely interested in shaping globalization," Merkel noted. Globalization should take place under a set of fair rules. Needless to say, there are many people who doubt that this will be possible. "But I think we should never give up this ambition."
Economic and social policy a further focus
The economic and social policy future of Europe will be a further focus of the German EU presidency. People ask: "What do I get out of Europe?" The EU has to be able to respond to this. "At the spring summit in March we want to create impetus that will help make our companies more competitive, increase employment, and promote prosperity," Merkel said.
She indicated the need to continue to develop the internal market, in particular by liberalizing the electricity and gas sectors. Her energy policy objectives include achieving emission reduction targets through improved energy efficiency.
