Madam President-in-Office of the Council, as others have said previously, your Presidency has come at an exceptional time, just when the crisis has erupted in Kosovo and the European Union has made its contribution to dealing with it, after an institutional crisis which we have still not dealt with, after the election of a new Parliament in very unusual circumstances with voters taking less and less interest in an institution which has more and more powers and, finally, after the Cologne European Council meeting which launched important projects for the future. In order to face up to this, Madam President, we require a Community machine which is in good working order, and I can assure you that my group will do everything possible so that this machine may be put in order as soon as possible. You need it and we need it. How can we allow a situation in which the resigning Commission has continued to operate since last March and is still intervening to try to undermine the implementation of a single price for books and to define the mandate for the next WTO negotiation, the importance of which for the future is well known. This is not democratic and we will fight it. On the other hand, we will help you with the rapid establishment of a serious and trustworthy Commission which is at the service of all Europeans. Apart from these considerations, our candidate for the Presidency, Mr Romano Prodi, has just displayed the constructive and creative spirit with which he views the contribution of the Commission to the next Intergovernmental Conference. Under your Presidency, it will fall to the Council to define the mandate of that IGC. I believe that the presence by your side of a strong Commission making its contribution to the development of that mandate is equally essential. We will certainly help you in this to ensure that everyone faces up to his or her responsibilities. However, apart from that IGC, certain things will also depend on your Presidency, and we all know that certain improvements to the functioning of the institutions do not necessarily depend on a reform of the Treaties and that it concerns firstly – and perhaps principally – the Council. It depends particularly on you. As for Kosovo, I only have one thing to say. At the end of the day we Europeans often regret our lack of a common foreign and security policy. We express our impatience in the face of these vacillations. However, the President of your country has given a marvellous demonstration of the contribution that Europeans can make to peace on their continent and the development of a European solution to European problems. The fact that the United Nations and Russia have been able to be incorporated into the peace process in Kosovo is due to united European action. With regard to the Öçalan affair, Mrs President, I would like to say a few words. The first is to congratulate you for having made Tampere into a European Council primarily dedicated to asylum policy. In fact I believe that the current Öçalan affair in Istanbul is also due to the fact that we were not at first able to implement an asylum policy worthy of its name. Finally, in relation to the death penalty, please allow me to draw your attention and insist to you that your Presidency intervenes with all its powers in Istanbul as well as in Tehran, since in Tehran we know of thirteen judges who face the death penalty simply for having been accused of spying on behalf of Israel. We are counting on you, Madam President. (Applause)

Political group: PSE