Mr President, I would like to associate myself with the sentiments of the previous speakers on the subject of Mr Marco Biagi. President, I congratulate you on the success of your first summit as President of this House. You set out to establish this Parliament as a credible and reliable partner in the interinstitutional dialogue and to demonstrate that Parliament, for its part, has closed what Mr Prodi described as the 'delivery gap'. You succeeded admirably on both counts. President-in-Office, Liberal Democrats welcome a number of solid achievements at Barcelona. The increase in overseas development aid to an EU average of 0.39% of gross national income is a positive step. If the Union can go on to meet the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income, we will no longer deprive the poor of EUR 100 billion per annum in development assistance. We also applaud the Summit's emphasis on making work pay and on reducing the tax burden on the low-paid, and the agreement on the energy tax directive. We need more economic growth but it must not be at the expense of our natural environment which we hold in trust for future generations. On the Middle East, we welcome the declaration made by the European Council. We urge the Israelis and the Palestinians to start fresh talks based on United Nations Security Council Regulation 1397, to accept international observers, to respect the Geneva Convention and to renounce terrorism and indiscriminate violence. I would also like to congratulate the High Representative, Mr Solana, on the deal he brokered between Serbia and Montenegro: truly a first for European Union diplomacy. British Prime Minister Tony Blair described the Barcelona Summit as a 'make-or-break' occasion. He may now regret that hyperbole, because although Barcelona undoubtedly represents a step forward on the road to economic reform, it is clear that this road will be long and winding. We must ensure that the delivery gap identified by Mr Prodi does not turn into a credibility gap due to the Council's failure to meet the multitude of targets that it sets at every Summit. One such example of a credibility gap is the partial agreement on energy liberalisation. What credibility will it have in the eyes of the our citizens if we deny them the benefits of more choice and lower energy prices? We urge the Council to support Parliament's call for a second stage of energy liberalisation to include domestic customers by 2005. The EU's credibility is also at stake in financial services. The pension funds directive has remained blocked in Council since it was adopted by Parliament at our first reading in July of last year. This is a prime example of a delivery gap which Parliament has closed but which requires more than warm words from the Council. The Council has other ambitious aspirations too, such as reaching agreement on the European Patent by May, and the Public Procurement Framework. If the credibility of these spring economic summits is not to be undermined, then Prime Ministers must apply themselves to banging heads together to make sure their national ministers make progress on these issues. If we are to close the gap, President-in-Office, between the European Union and its citizens, this will not be achieved by suspending people's rights to free movement, especially if those people wish to exercise their democratic rights to express their views in protest. Moreover, bringing the EU closer to its citizens requires progress on transparency. Paragraph 51 of the conclusions calls for ensuring greater transparency of the legislative process. However, it foresees no specific measures before June and moreover, the Secretary-General's report to Council limits the documents to be covered by transparency to those laws adopted by co-decision. This contravenes the regulation we adopted on access to documents last year which sees a much wider definition of legislative documents. You are already four months late in implementing this. We call on you to do so. Finally, in paragraph 20, the Council conclusions envisage the creation of a group of wise men. I wonder whether, at a time when you recognise the importance of women's participation in the labour force and when you express concern for the welfare of women in Nigeria, you might not, at least in this third millennium, talk about of a group of wise persons.

Political group: ELDR