Madam President, Mr President of the Commission, numerous steps have been taken in the past to strengthen the European Union, from the euro to resolutions on a common security policy; even to the response by the 14, the Commission and Parliament to the new coalition in Austria. I fully endorse the philosophy and the principles behind these decisions. Nonetheless, I agree with you, Mr President of the Commission, that many more steps to strengthen the European Union will be needed in the future because the European Union is not strong enough either to master the huge, inevitable task of enlargement or to control current and potential movements which, to put it mildly, have an ambivalent attitude towards European values of democracy and tolerance and the desire to integrate all the people on our continent. That does not apply to Austria alone. The Union professes its faith in its fundamental values in the Treaty of Amsterdam and the institutions of the EU confirmed this faith once again when the new coalition was formed in Austria. However, the full potential of these values will only be realised if they are set out in comprehensive detail in and form part of the Treaty and, in the final analysis, represent legal claims on the part of individual citizens. When it comes down to it, Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty are not enough. In this sense, the Commission must insist, and I should like to endorse and confirm this here, that the new Charter of Fundamental Rights become part of the Treaty and create binding, enforceable rights. In this sense, the Commission must insist on building up the common area of freedom, security and justice and in this sense I disagree with the last two speakers. Only reasonable, feasible and humane principles of immigration and asylum law can counter the irrational, misleading and demagogic allegations of the extreme right. But, and I would like to stress this, this policy must also be accompanied by a coherent and convincing policy to promote employment and prevent social exclusion because unemployment, marginalisation and growing inequality are the best breeding grounds for anti-European, nationalistic actions and reactions. In this respect, Mr President of the Commission, I too should like to address the issue of globalisation which you speculated on and how it is perceived by large segments of the population. The feeling of being at the mercy of others, of lacking in influence and of having no protection from the state leads in the best case scenario to a lack of interest in politics and a refusal to vote, as in the European elections and, in the worst case scenario, to extremist voting patterns. The Union, like everyone else, has not yet understood how to present the EU to the citizens of the EU as a means of protection against the negative effects of globalisation. We are in the process of building a house but too few of our citizens really feel at home in our house. What we need are not just reforms of the World Trade Organisation and the economic architecture – and, significantly, the President of the Commission forgot to mention the reform of the financial institutions and international financial architecture; we also need confidence-building measures for our citizens, who rightly expect help and support from and in the EU with the inevitable and painful process of adapting to new global circumstances. In this respect, what the Commission says about boosting Europe’s voice is important. You yourself, Mr President, spoke of a model of which, unfortunately, there is little mention in the document. You said that we must offer our citizens a model of economic, social, cultural and ecological development, both internally and towards the outside world, which differs from other models, including the US model. In this sense, the USA is not only our partner; it is also our competitor; not our opponent, our competitor and we must fight to see which of us offers our citizens the best model. I hope that what we have said so clearly and vehemently here today will also be reinforced in the Commission documents. (Applause)

Political group: PSE