Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, members of the Commission here present, ladies and gentlemen, I see that Members understand me as always, and so, having got my cordial greeting over with, I will get on with what I have to say. What, ladies and gentlemen, has been our reaction so far to this discussion? How do we respond to low rates of growth? What is our answer to the resumed increase in the number of unemployed? What, then, are we to expect in definite terms from Barcelona? Lisbon set out ambitious objectives: by 2010, we want to be the most competitive area, make full employment a reality, and establish a society of social partnership which will renew and reform the European social model. Are we to abandon these objectives? Are we to go back to doing things in a small way and contenting ourselves with the status quo? Mr Poettering counselled greater modesty. I support that, for modesty is a respectable human virtue, but, Mr Poettering, we should agree on one thing: let us not confuse modesty with faintheartedness! We cannot afford to live in the long term with the under-utilisation of our economic capacity. There is one thing we can afford least of all: when we recall the euphoria and new expectations with which – despite all the scepticism – the citizens of Europe hailed the euro, we cannot afford to disappoint the expectation that the situation we have been placed in would call forth definite action. That is why our report, which we got through both the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs with a three-quarters majority, is written in unmistakable terms. It says ‘yes’ to a pro-active policy, ‘yes’ to Lisbon's integrated political approach and also ‘yes’ to the mobilisation of all resources and to the clearance of every obstacle from the path, to doing everything we can to get back on course for growth. I wish to thank most warmly the many fellow MEPs who invested their labour and brought fresh courage to this venture, especially my co-rapporteur, Mr García-Margallo y Marfil of the group in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the many shadow rapporteurs in both committees, most of all Thomas Mann in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, all of whom gave a great deal of dedication to our common cause. What, then, do we expect in real terms from the new Spring Summit in Barcelona? I am firmly convinced, Mr President-in-Office, that the Spring Summits and the preparations for them must be got out of bureaucratic cliques. It is not enough for only the experts to deal with them and for discussions on where and how we are making progress to take place only in small groups. I will tell you why. As we have been reminded in these discussions, there will always be individual Member States which are obstructive for reasons of their own national interests. There will always be Member States in which national elections are being held and in which it seems expedient not to take the next step towards ‘more Europe’, as their slogans put it. I would add that there has already been one or other opposition party that has attempted, in Parliament and out of national egoism, to obstruct Europe's progress. Let me shout it out loud: we have to overcome all this, we have to overcome both these things equally, and get mightily stuck in to the European project together, so that in that way we can go forward together. Let us think back to the core of the message we got from Lisbon. What does Lisbon focus on? Lisbon says quite clearly that the strategy is focussed on people, on Europe's citizens. It is all about putting all those who want to participate in Europe's economic and social life – workers, entrepreneurs, trainees, students – in a position to give of their best. That is Lisbon's core strategy; that is what we have to work at, and once that is accepted, it is relatively straightforward to derive from it specific topics and definite demands. We must make decisive improvements to the employment strategy to give everyone the chance to return to the workplace. We must make labour markets flexible but safe, so that workers may make optimum use of their potential with full productivity. Our policies, as has already been said, must set that out clearly, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are Europe's principal employers, so that they too may get the green light to participate innovatively in the economy, thereby strengthening Europe as a whole. That must be the message we give out, and that is what we clearly expect of the Spring Summit in Barcelona. (Applause)

Political group: PSE