Mr President, I will speak this afternoon along the same lines as most of the MEPs who have spoken. I will not have much to add. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr Fischler on his taking up of this fishing portfolio at a very bad time. We have worked with him for the last five years, and I have confidence that he will move these issues forward. I am not in favour of nationalist speeches. We should not use this debate to look after our own national political interests. It is a Community debate. Fishing policy is a Community policy. The Commission, the Council and the different institutions are obliged to defend this common fishing policy, which of course includes agreements with non-EU countries. I come from one of the three Spanish regions which are most directly affected by the fisheries agreement. I am referring to the Canary Islands. And I can tell you that we have always fished in these waters– my great-grandfathers fished in these waters – and it seems incredible to the population of these regions that this agreement could disappear. But I believe that it would be a mistake at the moment for us to tell the Commission what the conditions for the negotiations should be. Parliament, this very morning, fulfilled its obligation to include in the 2000 budget an item of EUR 125 million, which had not been envisaged in the Financial Perspective negotiated in Berlin, in accordance with the interinstitutional agreement between the Council and Parliament, but which is fundamental to the starting of the negotiations. I believe that Parliament has fulfilled its duty and has offered the Commission the means to carry out the negotiations, and we hope that the Commission will carry this task forward. But I also believe it would be a mistake, as some have done here, to impose any kind of conditions on the negotiations. I do not believe that we should tell the Commission what it should or should not do. I believe that, finally, this agreement is important and that must be concluded. There is another important dimension: Morocco is a nearby country. This European Community was not built to attack anybody nor to threaten anybody. This European Community has to be concerned not only for its own future but also for the future of the neighbouring countries. At the moment, we are dealing with the future of the neighbouring countries of Central and Eastern Europe by means of incorporating them into the European Union, but we also have to concern ourselves with the future of the neighbouring countries on the southern side of the Mediterranean. It is not a matter of trading one thing for another. I do not believe that the solution to the Moroccan problem consists of admitting Moroccan immigrants, but the reality is that every week twenty or thirty Moroccans arrive on my island in small boats – the so-called pateras – at great risk, and many of them drown. We have a critical situation within a few minutes of our own shores, within an extremely short distance. I believe that in the negotiation, the Commission, on behalf of the European Union, which is rich, is probably able to offer sufficient compensation to Morocco so that the fisheries agreement may become a reality. It would be tragic if there was a re-occurrence of what happened last time, when there was a delay of seven months. I hope that as a result of the ability of the Commissioner and the attitudes of the Commission, the Council and our Governments, a favourable agreement can be reached which will allow us to continue fishing, on the one hand, and, on the other, allow Morocco and the Moroccan people to profit from the privilege of administering waters which contain such an abundance of fish.

Political group: PSE