Madam President, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, our Group of the greatly welcomes the special summit of Heads of State and Government to be held on Friday at the Belgian Presidency's initiative, and you, Madam President, will of course be there too, to speak for the European Parliament. We in the European Parliament can take real pride in passing the Watson Report in the last part-session; it points the way ahead for our common struggle against terrorism. Next Friday's summit here in Brussels should, in many ways, be a signal. It should again signal to our American friends that the diabolical attacks on Washington and New York were not only an assault on the United States, but on the whole of the civilised world and on every one of us. These attacks struck at our ideals of democracy, human rights and peace. What was said in our deeply moving session last week is still true today. In the Conference of Presidents this morning, I asked the High Representative, Mr Solana – who is at this very moment on his way to Washington with Mr Michel and Mr Patten – to tell Secretary of State Powell, when they meet, that we, the freely-elected Parliament of Europeans in the European Union, expressed our solidarity in the immediate aftermath of these fearful events. In Washington, however, we will also say that we expect not only decisions to be announced there for our European leaders to take note of, but also genuine discussions and consultation to take place, so that whatever action is necessary, and responsibility for it, may be shared by Europeans and Americans. Madam President, I have the highest respect for Mr Solana. In future, however, we must ensure that we can debate with the High Representative of the European Union here in the European Parliament as well. I believe there is room for improvement here. (Applause) Friday's summit must also send a signal to the Middle East. We urge Israel and the Palestinians to hold talks now. Now is not the time to refuse to hold talks, or to cancel them, but a time for dialogue and confidence-building measures, so that peace may be achieved there. (Applause) We must repeat: those who now refuse dialogue shut themselves out from our sympathy and solidarity. At this time most of all, we need peace developments and confidence-building measures in the Middle East. (Applause) We need a signal to the Arabic and Islamic world. Our group's Bureau met this morning and decided to recommend to you, Madam President, that we should, as a European Parliament, meet as soon as possible with parliamentarians from the Arabic and Islamic world in the context of the Mediterranean Forum, that is to say, with those States with which we are linked in the Barcelona process and in the Mediterranean Dialogue. Allow us now to send this signal, so that they may know that we seek partnership and friendship. Let me now turn to another aspect, which I believe must be the essential operational content of the summit here in Brussels on Friday. Mr Vitorino, we thank you for presenting these proposals today. We must make Europol into a real instrument for combating crime, and we urge Member States to give Europol the information it needs to do this, something which has not happened in the past. As we know, only one Member State does this reasonably adequately at present; the others have to date refused to. We are very much in favour of introducing a European arrest warrant, and now is the time to act. If there is anyone who now wants to stop Europeans going from strength to strength, who does not support European cooperation in the name of Europol, then they are fundamentally denying solidarity not only to Europeans, but also to our American friends, because in combating crime we must also be united against terrorism, if we are to stand alongside our American friends and partners. (Applause) For this reason, our group has tabled an amendment to the Budget for the year 2002. We want to put the necessary resources at Europol's disposal to enable it to be truly operationally effective. The time for words is now past! We must act as Europeans. At the same time, however, we must act calmly and with deliberation, and above all we must resolve conflicts peacefully wherever we can. A military operation is never an act of retaliation, but must always lead to greater security. Let us act calmly and with deliberation, but let us act consistently, and above all let us make our contribution to the peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the Earth! (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE