Madam President, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I would first of all like to thank the President-in-Office of the Council for her assessment of the Swedish Presidency. Sweden has proved herself and her Presidency has been successful in many areas. I would like to stress that you have acted transparently, graciously and amicably towards Parliament. With you, we have been able to begin to update our relations with the Council, which were still at the level of the Single European Act – I am referring to codecision and the presence of the Council in plenary sittings – I believe that this should be welcomed as a positive step in our relations. Like you, I regret that lack of time has meant that we have not been able to hold the debate on human rights today, but, in any event, human rights are a permanent element of our political commitment. I would especially like to highlight the progress made in relation to sustainable development and in the social field, one very important element of which has been, after twenty years, to unblock the directive on information and the participation of workers. With regard to the Gothenburg Summit, we are all reeling from the shock of the Irish referendum, which is a significant wake-up call. The French National Assembly yesterday ratified the Treaty of Nice. France has always been a very colourful and controversial country, but this ratification has not attracted our attention. However, in the case of Ireland, I believe that two issues arise which we must examine. The current members of the Union and those of the enlarged Union, because that is now our perspective, must re-affirm the terms in which we see our common destiny. This means, as from the beginning of this European Union process, that we have to find a balance between our interests – or if you like, our egotism – and solidarity between all of us. I believe that that is what is in question and that is what we have to address very directly to all the Europeans. Therefore, on behalf of my Group, I have asked the President of the Commission for a Commission statement on economic and social cohesion and enlargement. Because it is not simply a question of discussing whether the Structural Funds are maintained for some and not for others, but rather of finding out, firstly, how we can all contribute, and the President of the Commission has recently talked about the suitability of a European tax. The people pay, but they do not know what they are paying and it would be a good thing, from a democratic point of view, to relate funding to citizenship. Then we would have to consider how we can strengthen cohesion and solidarity between all of us on the basis of the principles in the Treaties. I believe that this requires the Commission to participate, by exercising its responsibility and its right of initiative. Secondly, I will refer to the conclusions which you have presented to the Council. In my relatively long political experience within the European Union, this is the first time that we have proposed conclusions to the Council which the normal citizen can read, because they are generally written in what the French call langue de bois, a totally cryptic style. The proposal of the French Presidency does justice to what the European Parliament has said, to what the COSAC has said, and there is explicit support for the convention method – you are prudent and talk about a ‘forum’. However, in any event, I would like to say that if you see to it that we make progress in this direction, I believe that we can finally put an end to negotiation behind closed doors and move on to the democratic method by means of which all the constitutions of the Member States of the European Union are created, that is to say, openly and publicly, which, at this point in history, means via the Internet and the television. That is how things are done. Therefore, Madam President, I hope that you will make sure that the approach taken at the Gothenburg Summit, and consolidated at Laeken, will be one on which the European Parliaments, those of the Member States, the Governments and the Commission can all work together. In that way we will be able to engage all of our people. Madam President, I would like to make a final comment about the visit of President Bush. The transatlantic relationship is a constitutional relationship, which is fundamental to both the United States and Europe and, indeed, to the whole world. Now, we cannot hide our profound differences at the moment, which relate not only to the value of international commitments at world level, but to combating such an important factor as climate change. We can make appeals for solidarity, but I would ask Mr Poettering to work with the current and future governments of his family, because it is not they who are supporting a united European position. In relation to the anti-missile shield, to build new missiles can only lead to a return of the arms race. In this respect also I would ask Mr Poettering to speak with his political friends in the governments in order to achieve a process of reducing tension, which is essential to the future of humanity.

Political group: PSE