I am delighted to welcome this report calling for the European Union to play a leading role in the context of the stability and association pact for the countries of South-Eastern Europe. People are always saying that South-Eastern Europe is the European Union’s crisis-riven back yard. The political context in this region is extremely sensitive and came to a climax in the Kosovo conflict. That conflict demonstrated the potential political effects of instability on the neighbouring States, threatening to destabilise the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Albania and Montenegro. Other countries in the region like Bulgaria and Romania have also suffered serious economic repercussions. It is easy to see that the European Union has every interest in the stabilisation of the region and that interest will grow with future enlargement. The European Union was traumatised by its powerlessness in the face of the process of violent disintegration at work in the Balkans. It was incapable of doing anything likely to stop that disintegration because it lacked a common political will for action, but it also lacked a political approach and appropriate instruments which would have allowed it to manage the crisis effectively at the international level. It can be said that the Balkan crisis was a turning point which had the effect of stamping a decisive orientation on European defence and security policy. The decisions of the European Councils of Cologne and Helsinki on creating military and civilian capabilities for independent European Union crisis management are proof of that. The outcome of the Cologne Council was the establishment of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe on 10 June 1999, a pact involving not only the Member States of the European Union and, of course, the countries of the region, but also the United States and Russia. The pact is part of the global stabilisation approach the European Union has been developing since 1996. The stabilisation and association agreements to be signed by Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania are the keystone of that approach. Negotiations are currently taking place with Macedonia. Croatia, where positive political changes have recently occurred, should be involved in the near future. These agreements constitute an entirely new contractual framework for the countries of the region; they draw great inspiration from the institutional arrangements and conditions attached to the European agreements linking the European Union with the CEECs. These agreements are individually tailored to take account of the specific situation in each country. They hold out the prospect of long-term integration into the European Union on the basis of the Treaty of Amsterdam and in compliance with the Copenhagen criteria. Above all, they give the countries of this crisis-riven region an important political signal and a definite incentive. These agreements also encourage stronger regional cooperation, which seems to me indispensable to the creation of an axis of stability in the region. - García-Margallo y Marfíl report (A5-0059/2000) Fatuzzo . – (IT) Mr President, I also voted for the measure on the Commission communication on implementing the framework for financial markets: Action Plan, because it is clearly important for the European Parliament, the Commission, the Union and the Council to make progress in terms of competition, using networks and electronic money, which are the latest forms of economic activity. I would have been happier with my decision to vote for the measure if it had included the intention to present every pensioner with a computer when he draws out his first pension payment. The elderly need to familiarise themselves with new commerce techniques as well as young people.

Political group: PSE