Mr President, the forthcoming European Council will be yet another step towards a Constitutional Treaty. It is remarkable that the media always emphasise the differences of opinion between the governments, an issue completely unrelated to the true meaning of such a treaty for the EU’s own citizens. It would be much better – as many are aware – to explain to the citizens that the object of the exercise is to guarantee the same level of legal protection for every EU citizen throughout the European Union, and that this is particularly achieved by including the Charter in the Treaty. This is a fantastic achievement and it is worth pointing this out very clearly in the Treaty. Everyone says that they are agreed on 90% of the result that is presently before us, but, in fact, too much notice is being taken of the 10%, which could not possibly be very important, especially since the Council is now clearly stating that there is consensus about the basic ideas. This is what should characterise the publicity surrounding the Convention results. In terms of our relations with the outside world, the drawing up of the Constitution is also extremely important, because no third country should be in any doubt about the fact that the European Union is an alliance of democratic constitutional states. This fact cannot be altered and on this score, nothing should be overlooked. We should say this emphatically to some Balkan countries, as we do to Turkey. Needless to say, the Group of the European People’s Party very much hopes that the structural reforms themselves will be assessed on the basis of a wide European outlook, taking into consideration the interests of all and the need for clarity for the sake of the citizens. Let me make a small point about the appointment of Commissioners. You often hear that every country should have its own Commissioner. It seems to me a matter of extreme importance that we in this House should, at some point, spell out to the outside world that, as soon as we discover that a Commissioner has adopted a national stance, we then step in to remove them from their post. Karel van Miert, from Belgium, once stated in his memoirs that the minute you are sworn in as Commissioner, you lose your nationality. Whatever we decide with regard to appointing Commissioners, we should constantly bear this in mind: never and on no occasion should the impression be created that the appointment could be of a national nature. There is a foreign policy issue about which I should like to say something. Certain things are going extremely well, for example the police missions in Bosnia Herzegovina and in Macedonia, or the military action under the leadership of one of our Member States in Congo. We also know, however, that major problems still exist elsewhere, for example in western Africa, where various fires are smouldering. We as a civil superpower can play a preventive role in the countries where violence has not yet broken out. Our role is then to damp down the fires in neighbouring areas. I would in this connection mention Guinea-Bissau, which is in urgent need of assistance in the run-up to regular elections, which it now wants, and aid from Europe will certainly be needed. I would thus invite the Council and the Commission to explore the possibilities for peaceful intervention to maintain peace in that country. I hope that the Council will be characterised by responsibility and solidarity, and thereby give an enormous boost to public confidence in Europe.

Political group: PPE-DE