Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by sincerely thanking the rapporteur for his excellent cooperation. But I would also like to say a few additional words about the report. In Lisbon, a high-flown declaration was made that we would become the number one in the world. It is now evident that things will not happen as quickly as some people had hoped. We might now think that target was over-ambitious. Perhaps we should be honest and totally forget it. A lot of things are now attributed to 11 September and to the economic downturn in the USA. It is certain that the tragic events of 11 September had an additional negative impact, but negative economic trends had already set in before then in Europe. In particular, from a German point of view we should not lose sight of the fact that Germany is the largest economy in the European Union and that countries that have far closer economic ties with the USA, such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have far fewer problems than we do. We should move away from that. However, I fear that the Barcelona Summit has again proclaimed ambitious targets without us having done our homework first. When all is said and done, Europe should not raise expectations that the European Union does not have the power to meet. Instead, the individual Member States should take the announcements they make there seriously when they return home, and should do their homework, for example in the case of flexible working arrangements and corresponding tax reforms. I would also warn against repeatedly talking about coordination at European level. This kind of coordination could lead to additional illusory powers at European level. Ultimately, however, it is hard to move things forward in this area. What we need at European level is an offensive on behalf of small and medium-sized enterprises. It is SMEs that will create jobs in the future, and we assume that nine out of ten jobs will in future be created in companies with less than a thousand employees. It is important here to create framework conditions so that SMEs are not overburdened with bureaucracy and all the requirements that Brussels creates, and that in future the individual Member States should provide appropriate knock-on financing. However, at the end of the day it is also important for us to adopt a clear position here. This is also evident from the debate about the warning letter. I would like to thank the Commission and Commissioner Solbes for having insisted on the 3% being strictly adhered to. The discussions that have taken place in recent months about this have not only been damaging to the stability and growth market, but have also adversely affected Europe's reputation, its economy and the euro. We should turn our back on this sort of behaviour and have faith in our own economic strength. We should not be saying that America needs an economic upturn because it will benefit Europe – we should be able to achieve an upturn by virtue of our own strength and our own convictions. Just a few more words by way of conclusion. I have just heard someone talking about 'coordinating state intervention'. I absolutely must warn against that. The best form of social policy is a good economic policy. (Applause) IN THE CHAIR: MR FRIEDRICHVice-President

Political group: PPE-DE