Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is quarter past midnight, the time when dark figures emerge from the shadows. In Strasbourg, Brussels, throughout Europe, throughout the world, across borders, crimes will be committed tonight, people will be injured, property will be damaged. In this respect, it is the right time to be talking about the GROTIUS programme. I should like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Keßler, for her thorough preparation of the analysis of the GROTIUS programme. I think that this programme, Mr Vitorino, is one of the main elements in a European area of freedom, security and justice. I should like to make a point here, on behalf of my Group, of acknowledging the fact that the Commission has committed itself in this programme to what is, in fact, a relatively new area, given its original remit. The GROTIUS programme will create islands of competence in the application of the law which we can extend one by one and gradually increase, because we can adopt as many directives, regulations and agreements as we want; if they are not applied, all our efforts are in vain. The area of money laundering, which we have just debated, is precisely one such area in which good progress has been made in establishing the legal preconditions needed in order to fight it, including at European level. At the end of the day, however, too little use is made of these instruments. The GROTIUS programme will help to ensure that European law is not just law in the books, but law in action. I can therefore say, on behalf of my Group, that we are unreservedly in favour of continuing the GROTIUS programme and I should also like to say that it is European money extremely well spent. We welcome the basic structure of the programme because it is fully and completely in keeping with requirements regarding the application of the law. Training measures, exchange programmes, studies, seminars, publications, are exactly what allow our legal practitioners to make use of European law and European possibilities. However, I must also point out that the requirements of legal practice are very varied. That is because training systems differ, the degree to which people are affected varies widely in the various regions of the European Union and, of course, the national judicial systems have very different definitions of what they expect from individual professional groups, be they judges, public prosecutors, lawyers etc. This was also the unanimous view of the Committee on Legal Affairs, which I am also speaking on behalf of here today. The Committee on Legal Affairs numbers a great many legal practitioners. Allow me to illustrate this with a very specific example. In cities such as Frankfurt, London or Paris, training in European money laundering legislation may be crucial, while in regions on the border between Germany and France or Italy and France, it is a relatively minor problem, which is why – and this is the point which particularly concerns me – the flexibility of the GROTIUS programme is crucial to its success. Although one measure or another perhaps meets all the requirements in one Member State, it may completely bypass them in another region, which is why we wondered during our discussions if it made sense for the Commission to set focal points for training etc. in annual programmes. We feel that it makes more sense to create a flexible, pragmatic, practicable framework within which those who wish to receive further training in European law can determine the subject matter themselves and tailor the various measures accordingly. We support the programme and hope that it will continue to bear fruit for legal practice in the European Union.

Political group: PPE-DE