Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, two years after I had the honour of presenting a report on the same subject to Parliament, I am pleased to offer the Morillon report my whole-hearted support. I hope the amendments presented by our group will be adopted. Then we should be able to vote in favour of this proposal without any problem. I will restrict myself to highlighting a number of points I feel are particularly important in the context of these turbulent times. The events of recent months have not helped the development of the new European security and defence policy (ESDP). Ever since 11 September 2001, the European Union has been largely excluded from political and military affairs, whether it is the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We do have some involvement, but our role is limited to civil and humanitarian action. While this work is important, it is not enough. The worst thing is that the European Union became disunited during this period. Despite the laudable efforts of the Greek Presidency in pushing for the adoption of common platforms, we remain divided on the question of Iraq. We are divided on the nature of transatlantic relations and on how much autonomy we have in relation to the United States. Consequently, we are also divided on important principles such as the use of force, the role of international law or that of the United Nations. Despite this bleak picture, I would like to make it very clear that I firmly believe we must not give up under any circumstances. A number of countries, including Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg, have already put forward an initiative to revive the security and defence policy. The Greek Presidency has responded positively to this. Prime Minister Simitis said as much recently. Over the last few weeks, the European Convention, chaired by Mr Giscard d'Estaing, has not arrived at a decision on the issue nor made its response known. I hope it will now forward some proposals of its own. Mr Dehaene and Mr Barnier have outlined some excellent ideas on the institutions implicated in the foreign policy, and the security and defence policy. These ideas include many of those expressed by Parliament. The Morillon report contains a whole host of interesting proposals. It includes proposals on the aims of the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the European security and defence policy (ESDP) in a new international environment. There are further proposals on the new role of NATO, relations between the European Union and NATO and on the military capacity, especially in terms of the latest technology, we need just to be taken seriously. We should not of course try to establish ourselves as a rival to the United States. That would be totally stupid, as well as impossible. We must however take account of some fairly basic facts. Given their geographical position and their common borders, the countries of Europe are, de facto, dependant on each other for their security. Given their traditions, especially their cultural traditions, the countries of Europe have important common assets and principles to defend on the international stage. Lastly, given the resources and the economic instruments they have, the countries of Europe do have the means to promote their ideas and defend their interests throughout the world when necessary. They just need to decide to do so. In short, while not seeking global domination, the countries of Europe certainly have a role to play in the world. Their role is far from being a servile or subservient one however. President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, let us forge ahead with this! It is the wish of Parliament, and we will support you.

Political group: PSE