Mr President, I would like to start by congratulating the Commission, represented here by Mrs Diamantopolou, who I am afraid has to turn round in order to be able to hear me. I would move to a different seat in front of her so that I could see her while I am speaking if I had more time, for I do not like to see her having to perform contortions. That said, I would like to inform you that this report places on the table the issues and the importance of elderly people in Europe. Without a doubt, there will soon be as many as 100 or 120 million people in Europe and, in the near future, in the enlarged Europe, and so this report concerns a very large number of European Union citizens. I am stressing this because, when pensioners and elderly people stop working, I regret to say that they are considered by governments, particularly the Ministers for the Budget, no longer to exist, to be citizens of which there should be as few as possible in a country, to be people who are a burden on the public purse, whereas, clearly, we are all agreed that being old means having worked for a lifetime, having suffered for a lifetime and having built up everything around us. It would therefore be appropriate for elderly people to be able to enjoy their lives more than young people. I have to say that, in the meetings and discussions held within the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs with all the group representatives, there was complete consensus on the objectives: we all want Europe to do something, if possible, to improve the lot of pensioners. It is extremely important that we do this first. There may be some disagreement as to how we go about this, but that is democracy and it is the right way to address such important matters. At this point, I want to focus, in particular, on the bone of contention. It is better to get the bad news over with first, if possible, and I will therefore start by making it quite clear that I personally do not support the statement of the Barcelona European Council, which, in the space of a day, without warning – nobody expected it – called for the average working age of citizens throughout Europe, of workers throughout Europe, to be increased by five years by 2010. Together with the opposition groups and, in particular, the shadow rapporteur for the Group of the , Mr Cercas, among others, we have drawn up an amendment opposing this decision, on which the European Parliament was not consulted. I must also say, moreover, that I am totally against this decision; two amendments have been tabled by a group on the other side of the House, opposing this decision, and I personally cannot do anything but vote for these amendments, for I feel that citizens should be able to continue working on two conditions. What I mean is, after they have paid enough contributions for a pension and have worked for a sufficient number of years of their lives, people must only continue to work on two conditions: the first being that the decision to work is voluntary, in other words that they are not forced to work for 45, 50 or 60 years of their lives – and the Commission states this in its report – and the second, I would add, being that there are no young people out of work. As long as there is a young person who is unemployed, I feel that the elderly who have been able to work and can now draw a pension should leave their jobs for the young people. I have now run out of time but I reserve the right to continue in my explanation of vote on this report.

Political group: PPE-DE