Mr President, it is perfectly understandable that we should wish to examine the state of transatlantic relations in the light of the current situation. Let us begin with the decision to tax steel imports at rates of up to 30% and to impose quotas. As the main exporter to the United States, the Union is the primary target of these measures. And yet European steel imports have fallen by 33% since 1998, and so they are not the cause of the problems in the U.S. steel industry. Coming on top of the differences over hormone-treated beef and GMOs, these measures are likely to have serious economic and social repercussions for the European steel industry. The Commission would therefore be well advised to bring a complaint before the WTO, as Mr Lamy announced, as well as to apply retaliatory measures without delay against US exports. What is more, this latest decision by the Bush Administration testifies to a strengthened desire on the part of the US Government to adopt a unilateral approach in numerous domains: on the commercial and economic as well as the cultural and military fronts, and this last front is the focus of deep concern. The New York Times has just published a report indicating the existence of a secret Pentagon plan targeting Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and North Korea and even Russia and China. The plan apparently envisages the possibility of using nuclear arms for offensive purposes, for example in the framework of an Arab-Israeli conflict. To quote John Isaac, a leading figure in the voluntary sector in the United States, Doctor Strangelove is alive and well and working in the Pentagon. This lurch by the American superpower, on the pretext of fighting terrorism, towards a permanent war footing poses an intolerable threat to the entire planet. The United States is redefining its role in the world around one single obsession, namely its own security. But in this world, right cannot be exclusively and invariably on the side of the Americans. It was impossible not to be concerned at the words of John Bolton, Under Secretary at the Department of State, who fired this broadside during the Conference on Disarmament, and I quote: ‘Our policy is, quite simply, pro-American’ and ‘The United States ... will meet this threat with every method at our disposal’. This policy, which entails a 15% increase in the military budget, equivalent in monetary terms to the entire state development aid provided by all OECD member countries, along with the planned anti-missile defence system, is liable to provoke a new arms race. The fight against terrorism, on the other hand, involves identifying its roots and seeking real solutions. And again, the United States is obstructing progress towards a fairer world by refusing to ratify several international conventions, such as those on the rights of the child, disarmament, biological weapons, the International Criminal Court, climate change, the Kyoto process and a host of others, not to mention the failure of the United States to adopt a sufficiently impartial position on the Middle East conflict. We can no longer be silent on the death penalty, a crime perpetrated by the state, where it is administered by a superpower that seeks to impose its order and its values on the world. We want nothing to do with that particular value. Numerous people, including US citizens, reject that vision of the world and aspire to globalisation based on solidarity. This was one of the messages that emerged from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. Europe must take heed of the ardent hopes of those who are exhorting us to play our part in the pursuit of that goal.

Political group: GUE-NGL