Mr President of the Commission, I would like to welcome you on behalf of the Group of the and to welcome the promising declarations which you have just made. Your team, Mr Prodi, faces a double challenge of which the first, which you have mentioned at length, is the restoration of the trust of the citizens and parliamentarians. The institution that you will be presiding over must achieve this trust. We can only have trust in an institution if it is run rigorously and transparently. I believe that you have the necessary qualities to restore that trust, and I have no reason, at first sight, to believe that the various applicant Commissioners are not also up to the job, whatever their political allegiance. I therefore greet your team positively. It goes without saying that we are impatiently awaiting the second report of the Wise Men, which is constantly being promised us, and your reaction to its contents, before expressing a definitive opinion. But I would like straightaway to deal with the second challenge, which has already been widely discussed. In my opinion, this challenge which you are going to have to face is more political and just as fundamental. Certain recent events, such as the war in Kosovo and the new crisis in the field of food safety which has occurred in Belgium, but which clearly has repercussions for the whole of Europe, are particularly significant, and I believe that the necessary responses to them – and you have said some interesting things in this respect – must be ambitious responses. There are also important deadlines and I think there is one deadline that nobody has mentioned until now and that is the opening of the new negotiations of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle at the end of this year. I believe that this is a major problem and when we talk of transparency we find ourselves faced with a significant problem. I do not wish to criticise you though, for ideas which you may not hold. I want to mention the relationships, which have sometimes been difficult, between the Commission and the Parliament. It has often been said that there is a natural alliance between the Commission and the Parliament. In the past, the facts have unfortunately often shown that this alliance is more frequently evoked than realised. The rejection by the Commission of the Parliament's position – even when passed with an overwhelming majority – does not show a good attitude and I would like to point out that it is the previous Commission which is responsible for it. Likewise, I could speak of the numerous resolutions voted for by the Parliament – with just as big a majority – involving requests for initiatives which have not been responded to or acted upon for years. We await from you, Mr President, a change of attitude in this respect. Some moments ago, I mentioned the start of the new round of negotiations of the World Trade Organisation, and I would like to dedicate my remaining two minutes of speaking time to this subject. The Commission has obtained from the Council the mandate for negotiations proposed by the last Commission – in fact by Mr Leon Brittan. This mandate has not been debated by the European Parliament nor by national parliaments. There is, however, a fundamental problem which we find totally unacceptable; that is, the broadening of the competencies of the World Trade Organisation without a serious and exacting evaluation of its workings having been carried out. (Applause) In fact the World Trade Organisation, as it currently functions, plays an extremely arguable role in European politics. In this respect, I could mention the decisions regarding the issue of bananas and that of hormones in cattle rearing. (Applause) The adoption of concrete measures aimed at respecting multi-national agreements on the environment – in particular on climate and biodiversity – and the implementation of the decisions of the Copenhagen Summit with regard to the fight against poverty, have been put on hold. Meanwhile, the Committees of the WTO are imposing their law on democracies – in particular the European Union – and are giving priority to free trade over all other issues, whether they concern public health, the environment, human rights or social rights. (Applause) The precautionary principle, which forms the basis of European legislation relating to the environment, is, if not ignored, then interpreted in a very restrictive manner by that organisation. Your Commission, Mr President, must express its view on this subject in a clear and rapid manner, at least before the negotiations start. We are ready to open a debate on this subject and I hope that this goes for the other political groups. It is even more important that the dioxin affair in Belgium, which will be the subject of heated debates, is clearly connected to the problem of food safety which is itself clearly directly related to the functioning of the World Trade Organisation. Transparency, Mr President, must not only be applied to management, including financial and administrative management, but also to political decisions. And on this point, it should be noted that there are serious deficiencies. We therefore expect ambitious initiatives from you and your team. I hope you do not disappoint us and I insist once again that we are prepared to work loyally with you and to listen attentively to the arguments of the nominee Commissioners in the forthcoming hearings. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE