Mr President, I was pleased to hear the Commissioner’s words. They clearly demonstrate a concern and a sense of priority, and I would like to say to him that the assessment of this Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Central American region will essentially depend on one factor, and that is what prospects this period the Commissioner has described as transitional will open up. From our point of view, and on the basis of this Parliament’s Resolution of 15 November 2001, this type of political and cooperation agreement must open the way to preparing association agreements which include a free trade treaty, in accordance with the intense aspirations of our Central American partners and, in my view, fully in accordance with the political, economic and commercial interests of the European Union. In other words, the key question is whether a period of negotiations is really being opened up for an association agreement with the Central American countries, and also with those of the Andean Community, of a similar nature, mutatis mutandis, to those reached with Mexico and Chile, and the one which is being negotiated with Mercosur, as a prelude to a more general strategic perspective which should lead to a global interregional agreement and the creation of a Euro-Latin American free trade area. We are now being offered an opportunity, at the third Summit to take place in May, to demonstrate a sense of anticipation and foresight, explicitly opening up this prospect. Changes are taking place in the region, a region – as we all know – plagued with difficult structural and economic situations, serious ones, but there are undoubtedly encouraging signs; there is a shared will amongst the Presidents of the region to move forward pragmatically in the field of economic integration; there is a new stage for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, which I believe to be very hopeful; there are plans for the reform of the integration institutions, in particular fairly thorough reforms of the Central American Parliament and, in this regard, the European Union’s presence and voice must contribute to demonstrating clearly that we do not just indulge in diplomacy when there are situations of conflict, but that we apply the same effort and the same sense of priority which was put into decisively assisting the peace processes in the region, that we still have the will and the determination to aim at improving the political, economic and social situation in a region so devastated by historical and current problems. Commissioner, I would like the Guadalajara Summit in May to clearly open up a stage in which the implementation of this Agreement is handled with the greatest possible will, which also involves maintaining the commercial facilities enjoyed by the countries of that region, within the system of generalised preferences and the special ‘drugs’ system, and, above all, that there be a specific commitment made to negotiating a genuine association agreement. While we are on the subject of the Guadalajara Summit, I would like to mention to Mr Patten in particular an issue which does not strictly relate to Central America, but which could be a success story for the Summit in a specific field: there are several black holes in the current world situation, and one of them is called Haiti. And the commitment to prolonged and intense assistance from the European Union, in agreement with the Latin American partners and perfectly in agreement with Caricom, with the OAS and with the United Nations, could, I believe, be a success story for the Guadalajara Summit, which will be consolidated if good intentions are then followed by determined and sustained actions.

Political group: PSE