Thank you, Mr President, on behalf of the Committee on Development and Cooperation. I take the floor to defend the European Community’s contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a bittersweet task. I am pleased that we have contrived to approve a significant financial contribution by the Union to the creation of a Global Fund as suggested by the United Nations’ Secretary-General. The aim is to fight against the three most common contagious diseases in the world. They affect the least developed countries who find themselves trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and disease. The higher the level of poverty, the greater the risk of contagious diseases. In turn, a higher level of disease aggravates the degree of poverty. It is pleasing, too, that we have achieved this in record time, through the codecision procedure, with urgency and at first reading. A number of amendments were tabled and negotiated with the Council. In our view, these improved the text of the original proposal. On the other hand, I have to say how much we regret that the Council and, especially, the Commission, have put us in such a difficult position. They have presented us with a text which, as originally drafted, bypassed Parliament and denied us the right to exercise our responsibilities as a budgetary authority. No account was taken of Parliament’s repeated statements on the need for much more energetic action in the context of a global strategy to fight against poverty, and, in particular, against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. I refer, in particular, to the report by Bashir Khanbhai, who is with us today. A lot of time and energy went into it. It was approved by a resolution in plenary on 4 October this year, yet the initial document put before us did not even refer to it. In their common declaration last May, the Council and the Commission welcomed the United Nations Secretary-General’s proposal to set up this Global Fund. Back in July, the Commission announced its intention to commit EUR 120 million to finance it. It was only last month, however, that Parliament received the documentation enabling it to begin its work. Furthermore, the documentation was incomplete and did not allow us to work properly. It is only fair to note that, in the last fortnight, Parliament and the Council have demonstrated more of the willingness and flexibility required to reach agreement on the amendments we wished to introduce. I trust the latter will be adopted tomorrow morning. In our view, the additional nature of the contribution to the Fund is a key issue. As stated in our Amendment No 2, the first EUR 60 million from the 2001 budget should be added to existing resources and not withdrawn from other budget lines already earmarked for development programmes. As stated in Amendment No 3, the EUR 60 million in question should not pre-empt or impose conditions on future annual contributions. This is clearly stated in our Amendment No 4. I shall probably be tabling an oral amendment on this tomorrow, Commissioner, prior to the vote. In our view too, given the very nature of these diseases it is crucial to maintain the Union’s contribution to the fund over a period of time. The fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria must continue to be pursued energetically in the years to come. If it is not, it will be unsuccessful and the EUR 60 million we are contributing will be to no avail. Parliament cannot abrogate its responsibilities as a budgetary authority. In Amendment No 6, we therefore request the Commission to make all the necessary information available to Parliament. As stated in Amendment No 7, the last of our amendments, we shall then be in a position to guarantee the suitability, transparency, sound management and working practices of the Global Fund. A report will duly be prepared, and should be included in future annual reports on contributions to external aid that the Community will be required to present.

Political group: PPE-DE