Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, our group, that of the , wishes the Greek Presidency every success ... Interruption by Mr Cohn-Bendit: No, I said you were the bourgeois party ... Look, whenever Mr Cohn-Bendit butts in, we lose time for debate. We in the Group of the wish you every success, and you will find in us a very fair partner. I want to make it clear that I say this with the agreement of our Greek friends, and Mr Trakatellis will speak immediately after me. We think it is particularly splendid that the treaty with the countries that are to join the EU should be signed, on 16 April, in front of the Acropolis or in its immediate vicinity, that being a symbolic expression of the fact that it is at the site of democracy's foundation, Athens, that we are giving the green light to the membership of the Central European countries that have achieved democracy after the horrors of the Communist era, and before that, the years under National Socialism. Mr President, we are of one mind with you as far as a peaceful solution to Cyprus is concerned, and also as regards the pre-accession strategy for Bulgaria and Romania, and we have an urgent request to make of you in connection with the Balkans. Whilst sharing your belief that these countries must have the prospect of joining the European Union, we must always affirm – and you yourself used the word ‘later’ – the long-term nature of that prospect. For the people of the European Union will first have to cope with the accession of ten countries, to which they will have to adjust, and we may not demand too much of them, nor must we give the impression that the Balkan countries are to be added to them overnight; hence our constant reiteration that this is a long-term process. We wish to strongly encourage you to seize the initiative in relation to the Mediterranean region and the Barcelona process. I am horrified by the sight, repeated week after week, of boats sailing from Morocco in the hope of reaching the Spanish coast, capsizing under stormy conditions, and the people on them being killed. I regard this as unacceptable, and we have to give the countries where these people live a chance of development – not only in the context of immigration policy, but as part of helping the countries of the Mediterranean to help themselves. Governments themselves must also help, of course. Any initiative by you in this area would meet with our full support. Turning to the Convention, Mr Papandreou, as Foreign Minister, will of course be one of its members, and I am sure – and I hope – that we will, if he follows the examples set by others, see and hear much of him in Parliament. Speaking on behalf of the PPE half of our group, I can say that we want a European constitution. We want a European constitution, we want European democracy, we want Europe to have capacity to act, and we want it to be transparent. And such a Europe must rest on the foundations of the Community Europe. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, we are sure that you support that too. We want the Convention to complete its work by the end of June and to be followed by a brief Intergovernmental Conference, so that the Italian Presidency will find us gaining a constitution for Europe. Let me move on to the Lisbon process. There is much truth in what has been said about this, but, Mr President of the Commission, we agree that we will only get qualified scientists to stay in Europe if we actually manage to reform our tax systems in such a way that it is again worthwhile to make investments, in such a way that Europe is a place where achievement is worth the effort, if we are willing to reform our labour laws and make them more flexible, and if we are able to change our social security systems so that they are characterised by greater self-reliance, so that subsidiarity and solidarity are intertwined. Such a Europe must become more competitive, and so working in it must again be made worth the effort. We need to encourage people to take the initiative, and, above all else, we must not make the citizen promises that the European Union is unable to keep. So let your coordinating efforts be directed towards tax cuts for businesses, reform of the labour market, and reform of our social security systems. There are two important foreign policy issues, Mr President-in-Office of the Council; Iraq is one of them. We must see that weapons of mass destruction are a menace and that, when they threaten us or regions of the globe, those who have them at their disposal, must relinquish them, but what we do and have to do, we do within the framework of the United Nations. We support your efforts towards a common European position on this issue, on the basis of action by the United Nations. It is not acceptable for a European government to say, ‘Leave us out; no matter what the United Nations decide, we're not taking part’, or for another government to give the impression of saying, ‘Whatever happens, we stand alongside the United States’. No, any European policy must be a responsible one, and I would encourage you, and us, to go about it as Europeans, and together. (Applause) Mr President-in-Office of the Council, you mentioned cooperation with Russia, and in May of this year you will be travelling to a meeting in St Petersburg. Appalling things are currently happening in Chechnya. The Russian Government's unwillingness to extend the OSCE mandate in Chechnya violates the humanitarian principles that we share. I urge you and beg you to raise these things not only when you are in St Petersburg, that beautiful city, which is Russia's window on the world, but make it clear to the Russian Government even before you get there that we expect the OSCE mandate to be extended, that we expect this Parliament's ad hoc delegation to Chechnya, which we have decided on, to actually be allowed to travel to that country. Mr President, I welcome the way you have often encouraged us by referring to our values, but we will gain credibility only if we lay hold of these values not merely for ourselves in this wonderful European Union, which, taking everything into account, is democratic and in a good position both economically and in terms of human rights, but also for the people on our doorstep and throughout the world. That is why we have to speak in a loud voice, and I would encourage you to do just that in St Petersburg. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE