Mr President, we rejoice at the presence among us today of the President-in-Office of the Council, and hope that we will be able to rejoice in welcoming him here on many more occasions during the Greek Presidency. Commissioner Patten, ladies and gentlemen, when issues of war and peace are at stake, we conduct our debates not only with our minds, but also, self-evidently, with all the passion we have, and must work on the assumption that we will, eventually, avert the threat and, it is to be hoped, secure peace at the same time. We must introduce our analysis of the situation by describing the actual facts in clear terms. We would not be having this debate, and the Security Council would not be giving its attention to the same issue that we are discussing, were it not for Saddam Hussein's criminal regime in Baghdad. We have to declare in explicit language that Saddam Hussein's regime depends for its existence upon a secret service, upon violence, murder and terror. I am very much in agreement with the President-in-Office of the Council when he says that our goal must be Iraq's complete disarmament. My dear friends, before we fix our gaze on America – about which I will be saying something in a moment – and before we criticise the Americans, the first point we have to make is that Saddam Hussein must disarm completely. That is at the heart of the problem. (Applause) Ladies and gentlemen, let us now take a look at America. It is with great disquiet that I see America put in the dock – around the world, not just in Europe – and so what I ask of us all is that we discuss these things in a right and proper way with our American partners and friends. I remember very well our debate in Brussels on the day after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001. Let us remind ourselves of those hours on 11 September 2001, those few hours in which it seemed as if the nerve centre of the USA – not only the Pentagon, but also the White House and the Capitol – might be hit, in which event the United States would have been incapacitated. It is because such a thing would have been a vision of horror that we say that it is a good thing that the United States of America exists. We are America's friends and partners. That is true of our group. (Applause) It is because of this as much as because we acknowledge America's great historic achievements – in the face of the twentieth century's National Socialism and Communism – that I ask that, when talking about America today, we be constantly aware that America is a democracy, and that the Americans have always resolved difficult situations by their own democratic means. The same will be true now. Let us also remind ourselves that, although Saddam Hussein is now starting to disarm, to start ridding himself of weapons he has always maintained he did not even possess, such as the El-Samud 2 rockets, perhaps the nerve gas and the anthrax pathogens, he is willing to progressively dispose of these weapons only because there are 260 000 American soldiers in the region. It would be a great achievement for President George W. Bush if the presence of these troops were to succeed – by peaceful means – in bringing about Iraq's total disarmament. (Applause) This is something we have to make utterly clear. Whilst there will of course be differences of opinion on an issue as important as this one, I speak for the whole of my group when I say that we are united in the belief that our moral strength lies in the respect we accord to the law. So, just as Commissioner Patten and Mr Papandreou have done, we declare that any eventual action against Iraq must be taken by the international community and under international law. It is for that reason that we hope that the United Nations will succeed in using peaceful means to steer Iraq towards disarmament. Now it is time for us Europeans to look at ourselves. We always make a big thing of criticising America, but it is not that there is too much of America – there is not enough of Europe. Where Iraq is the issue, it is not a good sign when one government after the other goes its own way without consulting with the others beforehand. (Applause) Right now, I do not want to criticise individual governments, but Europe's underlying bane is that everyone thinks they have to go their own way in isolation from everyone else. If we carry on like that, we will not get anywhere in the world, nor will we be able to influence our American friends, but will have to ask ourselves how we Europeans can become capable of contending for our values on the world stage, as the President-in-Office of the Council very rightly said. Let me just make two additional observations. We must endeavour by all peaceful means to prevent this confrontation with Iraq's criminal regime from becoming a confrontation with the Arab world. Mr President, I would be very much in favour of an invitation to President Bouteflika of Algeria or to President Mubarak of Egypt to address plenary being sent out as soon as possible, for this would enable us to express our desire for partnership and – if at all possible – friendship with the Islamic and Arab world. We welcome the visit to Algeria by the French President, which has met with great success. He has stated that we have to step up the Mediterranean dialogue, and I hope for all our sakes that we can ensure that these words are not only that, but that they will be followed up by actions – actions not only in terms of political cooperation, but also in the sense of helping the countries of North Africa to help themselves, thus giving their people a future and preventing them from being led astray into violence of whatever kind. Partnership and friendship with the Arab world! Let me conclude by saying that Israel has a new government. What we ask of Prime Minister Sharon is that he should now use his power to draw one step closer to the Palestinians in order to achieve a genuine peace settlement, with the State of Israel within secure borders, as well as a Palestinian state in which Palestinians can live with dignity. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, if we redouble our efforts towards this end – which will involve common action rather than each country of the European Union going its own way – we will be able, on the global stage, to achieve something for our values of freedom, democracy, and peace. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE