Mr President, Commissioner Busquin, ladies and gentlemen, my report deals with the direct actions for the European Atomic Energy Community that are implemented and realised in the Joint Research Centre and in its installations at Ispra, Petten, Geel, Mol and Karlsruhe. This specific programme has several focal points, the policy objectives of which I would like to discuss in detail now. I will start, though, by saying a bit about education and training. Both advocates of atomic energy and its critics will surely agree that it is very important that an adequate number of young and superbly-qualified workers in the field of nuclear research in Europe should make an active contribution, by their research over the coming decades, to ensuring nuclear safety in the operational nuclear power stations and also, if need be, controlling the fuel cycle where this is a source of risk. The same applies to the safe storage of nuclear waste over the next few decades, and to its being able to be decontaminated as soon as possible. That is why it is important to maintain the Joint Research Centre's high standards and build on its research capacity by training young scientists on courses and scientific practical placements which can, inter alia, be carried on in networks of international, national and regional facilities at the various levels. More needs to be said about the general principles, but I do not want to go over the details again, as we had an in-depth discussion of them in the Sixth Framework Programme. However, there are two principles to which I want to give particular attention. The first principle is adherence to general ethical guidelines, which are also binding on EU researchers, and especially Euratom's. The public acceptability of research in the Member States plays an important part in this. You will be aware, Commissioner, of the misgivings that remain as regards some areas of scientific research, biotechnology for example. Secondly, adherence to the principle that women researchers should have equal opportunities. This relates both to their training and also to the award of important research contracts, whether these are to be carried out by researchers acting on their own or in a team. Now for the Joint Research Centre's specific objectives. I see research's principal contribution as being to the safety of the atomic power stations and of their fuel cycle. Europe's citizens can demand that the safety of atomic power stations meets the highest standards even in an enlarged European Union. The stringent western European rules, which the Member States have framed in exacting terms, but which have not to date been harmonised, must be recapitulated as part of the acquis communautaire and must also apply to the atomic power stations in the central and eastern European candidate countries. The Joint Research Centre's expertise and the results of its research and that of the national authorities in the European Union should be drawn on in establishing a European code of nuclear safety, which should be ratified before enlargement takes place, enabling it to be put before the candidate countries as being valid in law. The candidate countries would have to accept this code as part of the acquis communautaire before their accession and would then have to put it into practice. The Commission, especially Vice-President De Palacio, gave these ideas from the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy a favourable reception and supported them. I also assume that you yourself will welcome these suggestions. It is, then, our desire that a Commission proposal on this topic be submitted as early as this summer. To take an example, the continued operation of the as yet unmodified atomic power station at Ignalina in Lithuania is not acceptable. Another possibility would of course be for it to be decommissioned before Lithuania joins the European Union. Taken as a whole, the European Union and the Joint Research Centre have a great deal of research capacity to hand in the field of nuclear safety. Maintaining that capacity for decades is a safety requirement for the public, who have to be able to live in safety, protected from the radioactivity from nuclear waste. The second is the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and, of course, of fissile materials. The safeguards in the Euratom Treaty do indeed provide for this control, but it must also be extended, by means of the whole range of expertise within the Joint Research Centre, to the non-proliferation of fissile materials, which can of course also be used in terrorist attacks. Thefts like those which have recently occurred in Germany are a warning signal in this respect. This of course applies equally to the tracking down of stolen nuclear material and its safe storage. I will conclude by highlighting the cooperation between the Joint Research Centre and the medical sector's national and regional research centres, for example the cancer research carried on by the Institute for Transuranium Elements jointly with the German Cancer Research Centre.

Political group: PPE-DE