Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission and the majority of the female representation of the Commission, whose presence we should welcome, ladies and gentlemen, the President-in-Office of the Council began his report with the success of the introduction of the euro, which is a success for our peoples, and which has exceeded any expectations we may have had in any of the European institutions. The President-in-Office of the Council has congratulated the European Central Bank and its staff. I would be grateful if he would expand on his congratulations to the Commission on the work it has done and, in particular, President Prodi and his predecessor in the post of Minister for the Economy, Mr Solbes. I do not say this because I am a fellow countryman, but because of the important work they have done. Now, the problem facing us is that the success of the euro demands a response which can only take one form: an active economic policy in Europe. We are in a new situation. The President-in-Office of the Council has reminded us how the BGEPs, Ecofin and others work; but it has been demonstrated that when faced with problems, things, in the form they were conceived some time ago, do not work well. In this respect, the review relating to the economic evolution of the Member States shows that some, politically, have been hunted hunters. They created a Stability and Growth Pact in order to monitor others and, in the end, they have had to apply the lesson to themselves. But this does not lead me to feel any Schadenfreude, as the Germans say. The issue is that in the medium term we cannot safeguard the euro with the current economic management structure. Secondly, the President-in-Office of the Council mentioned the structural reforms and the policy mix since Lisbon. We see the policy mix as the fight for full employment, social cohesion and sustainable growth, bearing in mind the need for Europe to recover technological leadership through strong investment, above all in human capital. In this respect, the important issue is the composition of this policy mix cocktail. We believe that it must consist of a harmonious and combined quantity of each of the three elements. On this basis, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, please allow me to comment on your proposals on liberalisations. My group has been committed for many years, and I am thinking of the creation of the single market with its four hundred directives, of the process of structural reforms which has allowed us to create internal markets within the Union. From this point of view, the President-in-Office has spoken firstly about the network industries: energy transport and also, as a network activity, telecommunications. We believe that what we have to do, and we have been doing so for some time, is to make progress on the creation of these markets. What has surprised us, and I would be grateful if the President-in-Office of the Council could explain this to Parliament, is the public statement by the President-in-Office of the Council and President of the Spanish government, and he has not denied it, that, in view of Barcelona, the problem is the confrontation with the Socialist majority, and he mentioned three governments by name, the German, French and Portuguese governments. I do not know what form this confrontation is supposed to take. We want organised markets. We do not believe that liberalisation has miraculous effects such as the removal of rules. We believe that what we have to do is establish rules which protect producers and also consumers and citizens. I do not want to go into Spanish matters, but the Minister for the Economy has enough work to do in Spain in order to deal with the problems of the liberalisation of the energy market. Secondly, with regard to financial services, I take good note of the fact that the Council values the agreement proposed in the von Wogau report on the so-called Lamfalussy proposal. But I would also like to point out that, while it has allowed us to get out of trouble, it has not resolved our problem. In other words, in terms of democracy, I believe that in the Convention we will have to hold very detailed discussions on the basic legislation and the implementation of the legislation with the possibility of parliamentary control. Finally, Mr President, in relation to the liberalisation of the labour market, I believe that many of the things the President-in-Office of the Council has said are reasonable; in other cases he has used so many euphemisms that it is really difficult to know whether the intention is the liberalisation of redundancies or greater flexibility by means of negotiation. I would like to express a concern which is felt by our fellow citizens and, if you will allow me, Mr President, I will quote; “we must condemn the errors of unfettered liberalism, with no rules, one of the main problems of which is uncertainty in the workplace and a model of society in which globalisation brings everything down to precariousness, mistrust and individualism without perspectives.” Mr President, this quote is not from Karl Marx but from the Cardinal of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini, who has just retired. I believe that this closely reflects a concern which is widespread amongst our fellow citizens. It is all very well to move ahead with the reform of the labour markets, in a positive fashion, but there is enormous concern about a form of liberalisation which may lead to the disappearance of the rules of the European social model and also a form of liberalisation which replaces public monopolies with private monopolies. In this regard, we hope that the Barcelona Summit is a summit which can bring positive results and does not become a series of pre-electoral confrontations.

Political group: PSE