Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, Taoiseach, céad míle fáilte, which according to my poor Gaelic means ‘a hundred thousand welcomes’: you are more generous than the Spanish, who say buenos días in the plural. I would like to welcome the arrival of the Irish Presidency, because fate and the timetable have placed you right at the European Union’s important political crossroads. It was you who began the process – while I was President of the European Parliament – in Dublin, in March 1990, which led to Maastricht, you played a decisive role as the Presidency in relation to the Stability Pact and now you have an enormous responsibility. As well as participating in the Conference of Presidents, in December, the Bureau of my group last week visited Dublin and we had the opportunity to hold a full debate with the Taoiseach and the Irish Government; I would like to say, on behalf of my group that we finally have a reliable, experienced and serious interlocutor. Following what we have just experienced – a Presidency full of political extravagances and boasting in the media – I believe this is a very significant step forward. We can have faith in you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council. I personally went to ask you to support us in the Convention – you are not from my political family – but you supported us in this challenge from the outset. As well as having experience – since being negotiator of the Single Act and participant in the subsequent reforms of the Treaties – you know what you are talking about and have demonstrated your seriousness. With regard to the Constitution, I would like to note, firstly, the decisive attitude of the Irish Presidency, a prudent but firm attitude – festina lente, as the Latins said, (we must press forward slowly and prudently) – and I hope that you can present us with proposals in March. I do not want to enter into controversial territory, I believe that Parliament’s position has also been prudent, firm and serious and I hope that with the Irish Presidency we manage to unravel this extremely important issue. Because a Constitution is absolutely essential to us if we are to consolidate an enlarged Europe and make it work in a democratic manner. I have taken good note, Mr President, of the Taoiseach’s comments on the Members’ Statute, which my group sees as a question of constitutional dignity. The second important challenge is economic. The President has talked about an issue which is very important, and in relation to which Ireland offers an example to the current Union and to the enlarged Union, which is the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. In other words, achieving, as we Socialists believe, full employment, gender equality – I would like to welcome the fact that the Irish Government has been the first to appoint a female Ambassador to Coreper, thereby entering into the most sexist realm of the Union, I congratulate it – social cohesion and technological development. You can also set a good example in terms of solidarity, because we are now going to begin to renegotiate the financial perspectives, because ultimately, if we are going to get married we must also talk about the dowry and the marriage settlements, and that is where we are going to see solidarity. In this regard, I would like to say, Mr President, that we naturally support the proposals from the Commission which at least maintain the current effort. We cannot set many more objectives while providing fewer resources and it is not acceptable for one or several governments to tell us that in order to do many more things we must provide much fewer resources. We must respect the work of the Commission and its responsibility, and I hope that it makes proposals as soon as possible, and that the Irish Presidency can interpret them. We must also provide a future for the Stability and Growth Pact. With regard to international policy, I would like to stress two elements: one is the President-in-Office of the Council’s insistence on the value of human rights at world level and the importance of Kofi Annan’s visit, because it is an affirmation of Europe's attachment to multilateralism. I believe that the Irish Presidency also has the capacity and experience to take this forward. Finally, Mr President, an important issue, since we are in an election campaign and my distinguished colleague, Mr Poettering, has raised the issue. I believe that the important thing, from the point of view of the European Parliament and democracy in Europe, is that the Irish Presidency applies the Simitis-Cox Agreement to the letter, taking the form of an exchange of letters, according to which the Council will have to propose the candidate to the Presidency of the Commission after the European elections. As far as that we are all in agreement and I hope that the Irish Presidency will comply with it. With regard to the European elections, the issue is open, nobody has won them and I would like to ask my distinguished colleague, the chairman of the technical group of European conservatives, to explain to me what you have in common with the British Conservatives in relation to Europe. There are no majorities here. Majorities, in European democratic systems, when there are no absolute majorities, are created on the basis of programme agreements. I accept that you advocate a conservative programme, and we advocate a progressive programme, but everything is open and we are all going to win the elections, or at least we will also be winners. (Applause)

Political group: PSE