Mr President, on behalf of the Socialist Group, I welcome your Presidential programme. You started with a statement: the culture of change in this second half of the legislature. I would say that, fundamentally, what this requires is the consolidation of the culture of democracy in the European Union. We are facing a veritable obstacle race, in political and electoral terms, in the next two and a half years. I believe that there are basically two things we must do: one concerns our citizenship. We already have European citizenship and the euro, but we must convince our citizens to participate actively in the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament. And this is something that we must all do together. At the same time, we must focus on those who wish to become citizens of the European Union, the citizens of the candidate countries and try to engage them in the most noble aspect of our great adventure, which is not simply discussing budgetary issues, but sharing a common destiny founded on peace and democracy. I would say that these are the noble objectives that we share with a view to making Monetary Union, which is already a reality, into an Economic Union and, above all, as you rightly said, a Political Union, giving primacy to the most noble aspect of politics in public life. There is also another important dimension to the European Parliament, which is our voice stating the universal primacy of human rights. Not because we are superior, but because we Europeans have learned, in the course of a long and painful history, that human rights are the best cement for maintaining peace and prosperity. This is an important point, both with regard to the world that borders our own – I am thinking here of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and also the Mediterranean – and especially with regard to the Middle East. I welcome the fact that yesterday, for the first time, a large number of Members took part in the debate on the Middle East. We must keep this up. With regard to the most tangible issues that you raised, the agenda of reforms, I should like to express my agreement with you, in that the most important thing we can do is to make our message more specific and to give primacy to political debates. In this regard, I also wish to thank you for having mentioned the work of the members of my Group, who are also Members of this Parliament, but whom you mentioned specifically. First of all, with regard to the reform of the Rules of Procedure, the Corbett report. It is obviously Parliament that must decide, but the President also has powers of proposal and of approval. The Corbett reform is not only the product of the rapporteur or of the Socialist Group. This reform is something as vital to us as the air that we breathe. It is absolutely crucial if we are to ensure that our debates resonate beyond the walls of this Parliament. Secondly, the Members’ Statute. At the moment, the Members’ Statute, which is a long-standing ambition of this Parliament, towards which we have been working for many years, is not simply something we wish to see. It is constitutionally essential if Parliament is going to be a member of the European Union with full rights. This is the issue: we are not simply discussing the problems, the type of Assembly or the advantages that we could gain. This is an issue of dignity and of equality between the citizens and their representatives. As you know, you have always had the support of the Socialist Group on this matter, and considerable progress has been made by recent governments that are part of our political family. I also hope that you also maintain your resolute support for the work being done by the rapporteur, Mr Rothley, not only because he is rapporteur for the Socialist Group, but as I have said on other occasions, because this is the birthright of the entire Parliament. With regard to defending democracy within the European Union, I welcome the agreement reached yesterday on the Lamfalussy programme on the basis of the von Wogau report. I wish to highlight a few points that I consider to be crucial and which should lead to Parliament maintaining a very firm stance. First of all: governance. This is an absolutely crucial issue and we must prevent a drastic reduction of our powers and a return to commitology. I urge you, Mr President, to ensure that the interinstitutional working party announced by President Prodi in the December Plenary and which the President of the Council, Mr Aznar, also ratified here, is set up as quickly as possible so that we do not see our power of codecision eroded. Secondly, immunity. Recently, there has been a major shortcoming on an essential issue, from the point of view of the dignity of Members. I am counting on you to take this issue seriously so that we do not find ourselves in a situation in which a fundamental aspect of parliamentary dignity is rendered meaningless. Lastly, the Convention. I also thank you for having today appointed Giscard d’Estaing as its Chairman. The Convention is the daughter of our parliamentary work, but it also has other partners and members and I think that Parliament must act as the keeper of the conscience in this field to ensure that the Convention is visible to the public, achieves tangible results and is not simply a forum for discussion. Furthermore, it must be able to push forward and develop something on which we can all agree. As you know, Mr President – and with this I shall close – we supported an excellent candidate, Mr Martin. I see that you have integrated many of Mr Martin’s ideas into your campaign, but in any event, I should like to say that if you implement this programme, you will have the loyal and honest support of the Socialist Group in this work, which concerns all of us.

Political group: PSE