Madam President, Members of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to welcome the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Göran Persson to Parliament. I usually look forward to all Presidencies, but this presidency is something quite special, and my expectations of it run particularly high. In my opinion, the priorities stipulated by Sweden, the three Es, are sound priorities. They concern a limited number of important areas well in line with the EU agenda. The most important one is, of course, enlargement. It is a task of historic significance to unite East and West on our continent after years of Cold War. I myself cannot imagine being able to participate in the completion of any greater or more important task in the whole of my political life. Sweden’s ambitions of speeding up the process in this area are entirely legitimate. I hope that the negotiations with the first countries can soon be brought to a successful conclusion and that a target date can soon be set for the accession of these first countries. I realise that this is going to be difficult. I also realise that it must be based on realism and that false hopes should not be created. But, at the same time, it is important for the populations of the applicant countries not to give up hope, but to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The second priority concerns jobs. Sweden has been pressing on with the issue of employment. In Stockholm, the intention is to combine employment, social policy, knowledge development and economic policy into one integrated policy. The method applied is the open coordination method. What we in Parliament would like is to have a part to play in this method – just as we have in the case of legislation – since it is becoming increasingly important. I would like to receive some indication to this effect. The third priority concerns long-term sustainable development. This is not only a question of economic and social sustainability but also of environmental sustainability. The EU is, after all, fairly successful where environmental policy is concerned. This is partly due to the fact that those with the least ambitions are unable to block decisions, but it is also due to the fact that Parliament has the right of codecision on environmental issues. What is missing in the strategy is a link between environmental policy and the previously mentioned areas. Such a link must be made before the meeting in Stockholm and must be one result of the meeting in Gothenburg. It was important, especially for the enlargement process, that there was agreement in Nice. All was not entirely well, however – for example, when it came to the complicated rules concerning codecision making. The way in which decisions were made behind closed doors was not good, either. Sweden has openness on its agenda and will push the issue of making documents available to the public. I trust that Sweden will also actively pursue the goal of a more open decision-making process. I sincerely hope that Sweden can make a contribution to this issue. I would also like to say a few words about crisis management. Active crisis management and military non-alignment is not the same thing as passivity, nor has it ever involved passivity. Active crisis management is about trying to prevent conflicts. Sweden and Finland have been the trailblazers in applying civilian methods to crisis management and in resorting to military action only as a last resort. This is good and will be developed in the future. There is a large majority in favour of this. Once again, I wish to welcome Sweden as the country holding the presidency.

Political group: PSE