Madam President, I have the honour today of presenting the EU Observation Mission's final report on the elections in Nigeria, which is being handed out as I speak. The report is very extensive and contains a lot of information and many recommendations. There is far too much information to sum up in three minutes, but it is all in there for you to read up. I would like to mention a few conclusions. First of all, it is, I think, important to establish that the Nigerian population, and many of its socially active organisations, greatly value this modern instrument of external EU policy. I am in total agreement with the Commissioner on this point. It is an effective instrument to promote peace, stability and democracy. The EU should be proud of this 'soft power'. Secondly, the mission, invited by the Nigerian Government, was the longest and most extensive mission which the EU has ever accomplished. I had the privilege of working with a very proficient core team, efficient departments in Brussels and with an enthusiastic observation team comprising over one hundred members. The findings of our mission have been widely discussed, both worldwide and within Nigeria. The main thing was that we identified the election fraud we discovered for what it actually was, rather than putting it into perspective or concealing it. We did not mince our words. This, quite simply, was what we owed to the Nigerian electorate. Ultimately, we established extensive systematic fraud in six federal states during the governor and presidential elections on 19 April and we discovered serious shortcomings in another five federal states. The same happened on 3 May, but then there were seven instead of six. Our findings correspond to those of 10 000 national election observers. Simply to call this fraud Nigerian fraud is unacceptable and an insult to the Nigerian population. It is, in fact, evidence of the over-organisation of those in power and not of underdevelopment. If we realise that about half of all the states have electoral problems, this brings into focus the significance of the legal cases which are now being brought before the specially instituted election tribunals. It remains a very serious matter that meanwhile, the central and regional INEC – the election council – was unwilling, not allowed or unable, to do anything about the election fraud that was discovered. It was, and still is, their task. I would ask the Commissioner actively to promote the EU, via the local EU delegation – under the excellent leadership of Leonidas – with the backing of local lawyers' organisations, being given the opportunity of actively following these election tribunals – without any involvement of course, for that is not up to us – and to inform the Council and Parliament accordingly. Finally, I should like to ask the Commission to reconsider its aid contract with Nigeria, which affects many states, in such a way – and I am not at all in favour of sanctions or similar action, for that would be wrong – that it becomes possible to shift, as it were, the resources for federal states which will not obtain a democratic structure or new elections – such as the federal state of Ogun – to civilian projects of democratic states. May I finally say to the Council that its statement contravened the facts. There was a low turnout and few women took part. Results showing a high level of participation had simply been falsified. The Council should have taken a more professional stance. It should speak with one voice. This would really be more helpful than engaging in external foreign politics.

Political group: PSE