Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, Commissioner Verheugen, ladies and gentlemen, I think I too must seize this opportunity to get something off my chest, as rarely have I experienced a Council Presidency that has concentrated so intently on the core issues and had such success in making them a reality. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Commission, and Commissioner Verheugen in particular, for their tremendous cooperation over the past few years, which has also helped us to contribute to this success. It is our belief, however, that we should welcome our new partners in a particularly splendid way, and there is in my view no better way to do this than on the Acropolis, so that we celebrate the unity of Europe right there on the Acropolis. At this time, we should, however, also make some critical observations. For, if the newly-acceding countries are to be enabled to absorb change, efforts must be stepped up to develop the necessary administrative capacities in these countries. I believe it to be equally important for the monitoring process, which has been agreed, to be implemented utterly openly and with the utmost rigour, so that we do not face problems at the end of it all. This is in the interests of the European Union as a whole and of its capacity to act even with 25 members. It is self-evident that we should make particular efforts to implement the institutional process in the context of the Convention's constitutional debate, and I think that the candidate countries should be given every opportunity to play an active political part both in this process within the Convention and also in the subsequent Intergovernmental Conference in accordance with the Laeken formula. The discussion in which we are engaged has, however, moved on to include Turkey and other countries. President Prodi, I am very grateful to you for addressing the issue of the wider Europe, to which we need to offer new options alongside full membership, with something like a ‘European Economic Area Mark 2’. Here, we must also have the right, as a European Union, to represent our interests in relation to the financial arrangements and the cohesive effect of the legal institution, and be enabled in this way to discuss future memberships or other forms of partnership. I am, though, especially glad that it has been decided that Turkey is to be dealt with using the Community method. Instead of discrimination, whether positive or negative, there is a progress report by the Commission, and consultation in Parliament and in the Council as to whether the results justify the inception of negotiations. I really do believe it to be an essential step forward that this has been made clear and that misunderstandings have been prevented. I would, though, like to point out in addition that we have to have a clear view of the European Union's cohesive power, so that the Union may in future retain its capacity for further development, and, when I see that Tony Blair is saying – as reported in yesterday's media – that, with Turkey we are entering the Islamic sphere and that we should also consider North African membership of the European Union, we should say loud and clear that what lies behind this is a plan to destroy the European Union. That is something we must have no part in; on the contrary, we have to remain within the boundaries. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE