Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the French Presidency is going to be a particularly busy one. The Portuguese Presidency has done a great job and achieved major, innovative results at the Lisbon Summit. Now the Member States of the Union need to implement the results swiftly. However, not enough progress is being made at the IGC. There is a need for stronger political will and for the political level of the negotiations on reforming the Union to be raised immediately. It is therefore important that the debate on the future structure of the Union has been reopened following the positions adopted by Minister Joshka Fischer. Now, the first task must be to define at Nice certain priority issues referred to by President Chirac in his introductory speech, such as closer cooperation, the adoption of majority voting as the rule and the adoption of a decisive Charter on Fundamental Rights which will be included in the Treaties. This would be a basic step towards defining a European Constitution. We feel that these decisions are crucial in terms of the reform of the Union: without them any discussion of its structure will be academic, and it is clear that, now that the single currency and the Central Bank have been established, Europe is in need of new political unity and, as has been said, a fresh boost for economic growth and social cohesion. President Prodi reiterated these points. I therefore feel that we can assure the French Presidency that we will make every effort to make these next six months a success: we are aware that there are considerable political differences between the countries and that now is the time to adopt clear positions. In our opinion, there is a clear dividing line between those who want enlargement to bring less political integration and those who consider that greater political integration and clearly defined timeframes will be necessary. We feel that opinion is also divided over the form that the Union’s institutions should take after enlargement. There would appear to be a choice between developing the supranational components – strengthening the role of Parliament and the Commission – and enhancing the intergovernmental aspects. We would like to make it possible for the countries who so desire to cooperate more closely to present a united front in a number of sectors such as economic and monetary union, which is still far from being fully achieved, internal security, and defence and foreign policy, which represents an open, dynamic core of more advanced integration. As regards management of the economy, we support the establishment of a Euro-12, for we feel that, with the introduction of the euro, this is necessary for the Central Bank as well. We consider it essential to maintain the fundamental goals of the European Social Model – adapting it, of course, to the diversification requirements determined by the new economy – and introducing new forms of flexibility which are different from those governing the labour market: flexibility which makes its own rules. We believe in increased synergy between the European Parliament and national parliaments, but we are against commingling which undermines the fundamental consideration that the European Parliament is the parliamentary organ of supranationality elected by direct universal suffrage. I would like to make one last point regarding the European Union’s role in the international institutions. President Chirac delivered a highly Europeanist speech to the Bundestag, and committed himself to revitalising the development of the European Union and providing it with a Constitution voted in by the European citizens. We support these proposals. President Chirac once again expressed French support for the German application for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, confirming his intention to strengthen the French-German axis in the context of a purely intergovernmental vision of the future structure of the European Union. For a long time we have felt a review of the membership of the Security Council to be necessary, but we consider that it would be more appropriate for representation to the Council to be by major continents, such as Africa, South America and Europe. Since we feel that the intergovernmental, supranational and parliamentary aspects should be balanced within Europe, we consider that it is the European Union as a whole which should be represented at the Security Council.

Political group: PSE