Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, when issues of war and peace are at stake, they have a profound effect on us – on our minds, our intellects, our hearts and our emotions. What I ask of all of us is that we conduct this difficult debate with an attitude of mutual respect, taking the approach that – even when our opinions differ – we are all men and women of goodwill. The reason why I say this with such emphasis is that, here in the European Parliament, when fundamental issues concerning Europe's future were at stake, we have always eventually managed to reach a common position. While there is dispute concerning the crisis in Iraq, we must not allow ourselves to be divided on fundamental issues here in this European Parliament; on the contrary, where those fundamental issues are concerned, the road into the future is one on which we must journey together. (Applause from the right) Ladies and gentlemen, when we, in our present situation, consider what is happening tonight, we have to get to the root causes of it. Let me repeat: what is happening tonight, and what will be happening over the coming days and weeks, would not be happening were it not for Saddam Hussein's criminal regime, with its torture, its secret service, its murders and assassinations. It is Saddam Hussein who is responsible for the developments that are going on around us. (Applause from the right) We regret the fact that the UN Security Council was not able to agree on the attitude to take to the disarmament of Iraq. (Interruption: And why was that?) We really do regret that most deeply. Pope John Paul II ... (Heckling) Yes, he is indeed, on this issue, closer to some than to those who would criticise me for quoting him – Pope John Paul II has said through his spokesman: ‘Those who decide that all peaceful means made available by international law are exhausted assume a grave responsibility before God, before their conscience, and before history.’ The American President, George Bush – having had the experience of 11 September, which, in terms of American psychology, means that America is at war – does indeed assume that responsibility, and, above all, assumes it together with others. President Bush has said tonight: ‘We have no ambition in Iraq except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.’ If this is to be the objective, then our group is right behind him; this is something about which one cannot be neutral. (Applause from the right) Ladies and gentlemen, there is no cause for anti-Americanism. Although I am speaking here as a European, that is something I can say as a German. We would have wanted action to be taken via the United Nations, but at a time when we face the threat of anti-Americanism, we must not forget that it was the Americans who liberated the people who remained in the Nazi’s concentration camps. (Applause from the right) Today, we recall how it was an American President, Ronald Reagan, who, in the mid-Eighties, said: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, break the wall down!’ – and was patronised for it. At the time, that struck many people as ridiculous, as a mirage, yet without the Americans – and of course without Gorbachev – this transformation in Europe would not have been possible. It is that that we must remember today. (Applause from the right) I can tell you, though, ladies and gentlemen, in all seriousness, there is much about a global power such as America that is worthy of criticism, and there is much, too, with which we do not agree. We would not think it right for there to be only one great power left in the world, with the others no longer capable of bringing any influence to bear. That is why, in these difficult hours, what is required of us Europeans ourselves is that we criticise the Americans less, but ask ourselves, as Europeans, more what we can do in order to be united, strong and capable of influencing our American friends. That is the responsibility that we ourselves bear today. (Applause from the right) I unreservedly endorse what Mr Papandreou and Commissioner Patten have said, that we must now urge our American friends not to let a peace settlement in the Middle East be only a matter of words. Israel has the right to live within secure borders, but the Palestinian people, too, have the right to live within secure borders, and with dignity, and we – Europeans and Americans together – must now do our part to bring that about. (Applause from the right) Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by referring to the European Union's great achievement, which is the reason why I appeal for us not to allow ourselves to be divided, whatever our disagreements about the matter in hand. This Europe, this European Union, lives in peace today because, in our European Union, it is the law that holds sway, and not the law of the strong. Let us in future do everything possible to prevent axes from being again established between capitals, with one city ranged against the other; instead, we Europeans must act as a Community. That is what we must require of ourselves at the present time. (Applause from the right)

Political group: PPE-DE