Mr President, many EU citizens consider bureaucratic Brussels as something that does not concern them. The challenge which faced the newly-elected Parliament and the Commission in 1999 was to change this attitude. Over the past couple of years, the Commission has published different proposals for administrative reform within the framework of the European treaties. The Kinnock reforms focused on human resources policy and a result-oriented budget. Via the European Parliament, a whistle-blowing regulation was introduced. Thanks to the White Paper on good governance, we obtained programmes for the codification and simplification of existing legislation. Legislative programmes were said to be reduced by 35 000 pages. As proposed by Parliament, an interinstitutional agreement was adopted on better legislation, containing proposals for alternative forms of regulation, with the option for Parliament and the Council to have a monitoring role as legislators. The Convention subsequently resulted in a reduction in the number of types of decisions from twenty-seven to only six. It also led to a clear and adequate distribution of tasks between Europe and the Member States, and a greater role for local and regional authorities. We would like to give Europe back to the citizen, to adopt policy from the bottom up. Accordingly, we are giving the national parliaments a greater role in order to help us in the European Parliament to monitor compliance with subsidiarity. Keep things at a national level where possible and do at European level what has to be done in a European context. We are therefore carrying out reforms both within and outside of the framework of the Treaties. Thanks to these, Europe will be able to perform better and more democratically, for example in the area of cross-border crime. What is irritating is that those achievements are sometimes at risk of being cancelled out by incidents such as Eurostat. Quite apart from the matter itself, it is of major importance for the Commissioners' political responsibility for their officials to be 100% possible and clear, not soon but now. The citizens and the European Parliament want a democracy, not a technocracy. Thanks to the White Paper and many actions that have subsequently been taken by Parliament and by the Commission, better and more effective legislation and administration have been established to a great extent. This has been done by guaranteeing access to documents for the citizens, by remaining committed to a modern human resources policy and a result-oriented budget, by working on announced impact assessments, for example in the economic, social and environmental fields, and by actually implementing the interinstitutional agreement. Actions speak louder than words. In a nutshell, we are working towards a recognisable and approachable European administration. In this respect, the coming into being of the constitution will be crucial to the European citizens. We need results in 2004. There is no need for an electoral handbrake; this is not about winning the battle of Italy, but the battle of winning the hearts and minds of the European public. We would ask Italy to launch into an energetic final sprint, and I know that Italians are experts when it comes to cycling and final sprints. We would wish Mr Prodi and his Commission that success in 2004.

Political group: PSE