Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, quite a few of my colleagues have already drawn attention to the precarious economic situation and have also asked for structural remedies to be put in place. Nevertheless, we are being bombarded with conflicting reports on a daily basis. Here in Belgium, people have been hit hard by the report, this week, that 3 000 workers in Ford Genk are to lose their jobs. The fact that a reduction in the sales of a specific car model can have such an impact, that heavy and promised investments were withdrawn and that all this employment disappears in one fell swoop, can also have major implications for the rest of Europe. Today, the lead article of an important newspaper was entitled: ‘Is Ford set to disappear across Europe?’ I do not want to dwell on this any further, but I would still like to ask you to come up with realistic solutions that no longer create the impression that employment is something that capitalists can play about with. People now have the impression that they are being put upon. A second concern which you expressed is that for peace. You know that our great concern with regard to the Middle East is growing by the day. Since the war in Iraq, peace has not been established. We would like the United Nations and the European Union to be able to play their part there, but it is with sorrow that we see how the entire region seems more and more to think that it can offer military solutions. The fact that a wall is now being erected there, partly even in occupied territories, to screen Israel from the Palestinians, makes a mockery of the phased plan's intention. The fact that new settlements are still being planned makes a mockery of the phased plan. Where does the phased plan lead? It is a road to nowhere. We must take action. We must monitor this plan at ground level, and we must ensure that the situation does not escalate any further. What happened after the dramatic attack in Haifa, an attack deep in Syria, and one that we deplore and denounce, simply invites further military escalation. The Turkish parliament’s decision to send troops to Iraq from Turkey, goes against the wishes of the Turkish population, but has been taken under American pressure; it also goes against the wishes of the interim government and of the Iraqi Kurds and is clearly intended as a threat to the PKK. The Turkish population fears, with good reason, that this will spark another spiral of violence. The Iranian regime too, whilst meeting with strong criticism from public opinion at home, is reaping profit from the situation in Iraq. They are the victors. They are gaining more influence over their Shiite fellow believers, not only in society, but even in the government, and they are now putting the pressure on to destroy the Mujahedin. This is once again an attempt to force a military solution, a bogus solution in other words, while we continue to talk about a roadmap to peace. I am asking the European countries, the Commission, the Presidency of the Council to come up with answers to these pressing questions. Can we still, under these circumstances, cooperate with Israel without imposing conditions? Can we still keep the Association Agreement in operation? Can we continue to turn a blind eye to the obvious presence in Israel of nuclear weapons, kept in reserve as a political lever, but also as an alibi to be able to wage conventional wars more easily? Is it not there that we should be looking for weapons of mass destruction? Should the Atomic Energy Agency not intervene and do its job? I am therefore asking for a less resigned and a more active stance on the part of the Quartet, and I hope that we can still curb the spreading of war and that we can truly turn into the direction of peace once again.

Political group: Verts-ALE