Mr President, to begin with I should like to congratulate Mr Ribeiro e Castro most warmly on his brilliant report and thank him for the excellent cooperation we enjoyed in the committee. Unlike Mr Stauner I am convinced that he has produced very creative work with the report of the European Commission. Ladies and gentlemen, the European Union wants to make the creation of an integrated labour market a priority and that is a good thing. But we should be aware that people who want to make use of this opportunity are not always wrapped in cotton wool. It is not at all easy to be mobile in a cross-border way in the European labour market. If we really want a European labour market, we must work at removing the obstacles, and EURES has certainly won its spurs in this field. The 450 EURES consultants who have day-to-day contact with people who are mobile, can testify to the difficulties they experience. But even in their own organisations, whether it be job centres or trade unions, they do not always receive the attention they really deserve. I believe that policy-makers should make more use of their know-how and expertise. I am therefore particularly happy that the Commission has agreed to my suggestion that a public hearing should be organised with the EURES consultants and I hope, Commissioner, that the results of that hearing will be of use to the Commission in preparing the new programme. The Commission has formulated a number of proposals and the honourable Member has supplemented these in a useful way. I believe, for example, that it is a very good idea to use EURES more effectively as part of our employment strategy and for that to happen the legal basis of EURES must change. I also think it is important that there is better coordination with other Community initiatives. But I should like to put special emphasis on two additional elements. Firstly: I believe that it is definitely necessary to start expanding EURES activities in the future, especially in the context of enlargement to include new candidate countries which we are now experiencing. Secondly: anyone who talks about the enlargement and enhancement of EURES must also have the courage to talk about additional financial resources and preferably, Commissioner, as part of a long-term plan, since the annual ‘carve up’ is very difficult to operate for EURES. I should like to take advantage of this debate to raise two additional issues regarding cross-border mobility, issues about which we are constantly asked by people in border regions. That is first and foremost, Commissioner, the question of Parliament that has been on the table for years in relation to the introduction of a Europe test, a test which could monitor internationally the possible consequences of social and fiscal legislation in other countries. The Netherlands recently used that test voluntarily as part of a bilateral tax agreement and in the social agenda we have occasionally asked for such a test to be created at European level. I should like to ask you again to give this serious consideration. The second issue concerns the draft for the simplification and modification of the coordination of social security entitlements of migrating employees. This issue has been on the table for years, and we know that the Belgian presidency intends to, and will try to, achieve a political breakthrough in this connection. That will not be easy while decisions on this issue must be made unanimously. Accordingly, I should like to express the hope that Member States that are at present dragging their feet will begin paying more attention to the problems of cross-border mobility, and hence be prepared to make some compromises as part of the regulation. The European Commission promised us that at the end of this year, during the Belgian Presidency, a conference on border work would be organised. We very much hope, Commissioner, that that conference will contribute, not only to greater understanding and insight into the problems of border regions, but specifically to the removal of the obstacles to cross-border mobility in the European labour market.

Political group: PSE