Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, I too would like to express my sorrow at the murder of Mr Djindjić. Whatever disputes and disagreements we may have had with him in individual cases, I do believe that he stood for greater democracy in his country and for a courageous policy in times that made such a thing very dangerous, and that he earned our profound respect by doing so. We should also see this as imposing on us the obligation of making an ongoing contribution to stability and democracy in the region. I believe that what we are discussing today is one of the steps to that end. This morning, we demonstrated what a poor position Europe is in when it comes to issues of war and peace. In the Balkans, we have learned from the mistakes of the past, and the European Union has taken on greater responsibilities. Our taking over, for the first time, a military operation in that region in the name of the European Union – small though the operation may be – shows that the European Union is going down a new path and indicates how our capacity to act will develop in this, admittedly small, area. I believe we should take this as a favourable assessment, and so I would like to thank those who have been involved in making it possible. The members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy are, however, keen to see this debate on plenary's agenda, because we take the view that it is not acceptable for the European Union to decide on a military operation in the name of the European Union without formal consultation with the European Parliament, which is the directly-elected forum for Europe's peoples. As you said, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, we in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy have received information, but it has been received through invitations we have extended and requests we have made. Nothing has been done, though, to accede to Parliament's requests for a proper information procedure, on which basis Parliament might be provided with the information that would facilitate its involvement. Even though the operation in Macedonia involves only a small contingent of some 300 troops, it is the very first military operation in the history of the European Union, and it marks an important precedent. Right now, the European Union is planning a substantially larger operation for 2004, which will involve taking over NATO's SFOR missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We therefore have a fundamental demand to make of the Council, which is that it should inform and consult Parliament about the mandates for future Petersberg missions before they are mounted. This would be in the spirit of Article 21 of the Treaty and of the joint statement on the financing of the CFSP, adopted as recently as last December by the Council, the Commission and Parliament. Military operations by the European Union, such as are currently planned for the Balkans, differ in one very important respect from missions undertaken by NATO. NATO is a military alliance pure and simple, whereas the European Union is not. Petersberg missions by the European Union will always be mounted in tandem with the EU's involvement in the region affected by a crisis, whether such involvement be political and diplomatic, or economic and financial. Cooperation between civilians and the armed forces under the flag of the European Union will always be an important dimension of the overall mission. That is why it betrays a lack of thought for the Council to believe that it can dispense with Parliament's formal involvement when intergovernmental military operations of this sort are mounted, and that is why we demand that we be involved and informed at an early stage, and in a completely transparent way. Item 6 of our resolution lists the questions that we could discuss at an early stage of such missions, such as, for example, with what mandate and with what objectives the mission is being undertaken; what relationship exists between the troops in the regions under EU and NATO command respectively; how they cooperate with other organisations active in the region, such as the UN and the OSCE; how these missions in Macedonia and, next year, in Bosnia and Herzegovina fit into the overall framework of the stability and association process in the Balkans, and within what framework the joint costs are expected to be incurred. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, the answers given today by both of you to the questions in most of these areas have been extensive, but, as I have said, that is not the correct form or the most suitable way; this should have been done already, through other channels, on the initiative of others, and at another time. In saying this, it is not my intention to criticise what you have said today, but to take a critical view of the procedure, of the time, and of the place. In the future, EU missions will always have the marked character of being both civil and military, and they will operate in crisis-hit regions in which the European Union has already made political or humanitarian commitments, or in which, once a crisis operation is over, it will be involving itself in reconstruction and development. Now that we are beginning, cautiously, to take on responsibilities in military areas too, that is what is special about the European Union – and what sets us apart from a purely military alliance. This first mission in Macedonia sees us – even Parliament – breaking new ground. It is for that reason that the Committee on Foreign Affairs’ resolution proposes that we should, in the coming months, send a fact-finding delegation to the theatre of operations, in order to enable us MEPs to get our own picture of how the European Union's first military mission works. Even if the Council has not officially consulted us, we in the European Parliament will not divest ourselves of our responsibility for giving the soldiers from our Member States the parliamentary support that is their due and, in so far as we are able to do so, supporting the mission as a whole. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE