Mr President, I would like to join with the condolences which have been expressed already this afternoon. Hay unas palabras españolas muy bien conocidas en mi país que son las palabras '¡No pasarán!'. Y el mensaje que debemos mandar de esta Cámara es simplemente a los terroristas que no pasarán nunca jamás. [This Spanish phrase is very well known in my country “¡No pasarán!” (There is no way through!). The message that this House must send the terrorists is simply that there is no way through.] (Applause) If I could pass on to this issue, which is also a very sensitive one, I was interested in Mr Patten's response because, as I see it, the Euratom Treaty deals purely with civilian matters, not military matters, and this is a military matter. There is one aspect of the Euratom Treaty which is the transport of contaminated waste between Member States of the European Union; but, of course, Gibraltar is part of the United Kingdom and any contaminated waste will go from one part of the United Kingdom to another part of the United Kingdom, without passing through any other Member State in the European Union. Therefore, the Euratom Treaty does not apply. Before us we have a green, gooey, compromise resolution and rarely in my time in the European Parliament have I seen a resolution which is more wrong, more deliberately inaccurate and more designed to scaremonger than this particular resolution we have before us. Let us deal with the details. The reactor is shut down. The submarine is entirely safe. It is a fault to the coolant circuit only. There was no over-heating. There was no danger and there was no contamination; and no, the submarine was not refused permission to enter Naples because it never asked for permission to enter Naples. What is the alternative? Do we see a nuclear-powered submarine being towed through the Atlantic in the middle of winter in order to return to the United Kingdom? I can think of no more dangerous scenario, as we have seen in relation to submarines in the former Soviet Union. The only time we can do this is June or July, and yet the British Government said clearly that this submarine will be repaired by the end of March. So it would be better to repair it than to try and tow it through the Atlantic. And no, the classification of the port was not changed by some sleight of hand. This is a category Z berth, a berth for nuclear submarines where nuclear submarines can be repaired, provided the nuclear authorities give permission. And the independent nuclear authorities have given permission. There is no permanent change to this berth. This is a temporary measure to repair this nuclear submarine, and I will recall that there are three category Z berths in Spain designed for the berthing, and presumably the repairing, of American submarines. And, of course, any repairs will be to the same standards as they are in the United Kingdom and in 40 years of having nuclear submarines the United Kingdom Navy has never had one incident. There is a public safety plan, to which the Commission has drawn attention. The experts say that we need to have a public safety plan for a two-mile radius which does not come into Spanish territory; and yes, the public have been informed. There have been meetings of trade unionists, there have been meetings of the public, there have been public statements, there have been meetings with ministers of the Government of Spain and the Government of Gibraltar and they have entered the submarine; and our experts have gone off to Madrid in order to give information. Never in the history of the Ministry of Defence has there been so much openness in the United Kingdom. And on that my case rests, Mr President.

Political group: PSE