Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, the Commission defines the broadening of its point of focus as one of its priorities for the year 2003. Mr Elles has perhaps taken a somewhat cynical view of that. Nevertheless, I consider it right and proper, because the impression might otherwise be created that, when we conclude the treaties with the candidate countries in 2002 – and I hope there will be ten of these treaties – everything will have been done and dusted. This, however, is certainly not the case. It would also promote the ratification process and the assent procedure in this House if we had some initiatives from the Commission, particularly if they were scheduled for the year 2003. For example, the new Member States must be prepared for the assumption of full participatory rights within the European Union. Practice is also needed in the peaceful and amicable solution of conflicts. I hope this will not be confined to Cyprus; recent debates in this very House suggest that it is needed between Slovakia and Hungary or between the Czech Republic and Hungary, and even Austria and Germany are to some degree affected by it. The entire cohesion policy has to be transformed and restructured. Only today we had a hearing on the White Paper devoted to transport. It is good that the Vice-President of the Commission is present. If we really want to develop the trans-European networks and contribute to cohesion, 2003 will be a particularly busy year. A great deal of assistance must be given to the future Member States to enable them to adapt to Community standards of administration and justice, for example in the fight against fraud. And so 2003, especially in terms of enlargement, will be an absolutely decisive year. That should not be underestimated. But 2003 will also be a year in which we must try to provide answers to countries that are not candidates for accession but are considering the possibility of applying. Ukraine is one of those countries. We had Mr Shevardnadze here from Georgia too and had some discussions on that point. In Russia too the subject is discussed. In the last hour we have spoken about Croatia with a Croatian delegation. There are questions here that we shall be asked to answer. We have not taken any steps so far to draw definitive borders or to define what the Europe of the Union is to be, because there will still be a Europe beyond our frontiers. So on these questions too we shall have to find answers, or at least provisional answers, in 2003. Another task for 2003 is the development of some visions as to the nature of our intensified and institutionalised cooperation with those countries that will not be members of the European Union but will not be complete outsiders either. Russia is one example; the countries of the Mediterranean region are others. It is important that we develop new ideas, that we cooperate with those specific countries that are neither in nor entirely out of the European sphere. This particular cooperation will also be very important as a means of fostering stability and security, the second defined priority. In this respect, it has to be clearly stated that Europe must do its homework. We cannot always rely on the United States to intervene. Nor do we want to be constantly dependent on U.S. intervention. One part of this is certainly the need to resist the hegemonic aspirations of the United States, but we in Europe must also learn to assume a more prominent role ourselves, at least in our immediate sphere of interest. In this respect too, 2003 will be an important year, for example with regard to the funding of joint assignments. Madam Vice-President, in order to do what it intends to do, the Commission naturally needs two things. The first is money, about which my honourable colleague will speak shortly, and the second is innovative governance and regulation. Unfortunately, the Commissioner is speaking at this very moment to the President-in-Office of the Council, whom I also wished to address. Perhaps he would have a moment to listen. Mr Miguel, I wanted to say something to you. Maybe someone could give the President-in-Office a set of headphones so that he can briefly listen to what I have to say. I wanted to say something to you about the question of alternative governance and regulation. I am grateful for the reply that Mr Aznar gave, but may I ask you to convey to him that his answer, following on from a previous reply he gave us in this House, did shed a little light for us on the domain of international cooperation but was certainly not entirely satisfactory. The fact is that the suggestion put forward by the Commission and the speech delivered by Mr Cox, Parliament's President, in Barcelona made it clear that we need a political agreement between the Commission, Parliament and the Council. (Applause) When the heads of government deal with other forms of governance – which I welcome – I believe it is only right that the parliamentarians in this House should concern themselves with it too. The Secretary-General may prepare something, but decisions must be taken by political bodies, of which this Parliament is one. (Applause)

Political group: PSE