Mr President, Mr de Miguel, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the events of 11 September last year are still clearly dominating world politics. And we all know that world politics are particularly cynical, which is certainly also true for Chechnya. Since 11 September, I have the impression that Chechnya has indeed fallen into the cracks of world history and has been banished from current affairs, and today’s debate is therefore of particular importance. Since my appointment as Chairman of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, I have conducted many talks with Russians, Chechens, aid workers and human rights activists. Certainly, the situation is complex, and talking about this issue in black and white terms will indeed not bring any solace but, despite this, I have to make a few observations. The problems in Chechnya cannot be solved by military means. What we need is a political solution, an immediate cease-fire and political consultation. In this vein, I support the appeal made by human rights organisations to invite Mr Mascadov to Parliament in Strasbourg in September of this year and to start consultations with the Russian representatives of the Council of Europe. As Mr Poettering pointed out a moment ago, a number of Russian colleagues paid us a visit last week and told us that Chechnya is returning to normality. This was also confirmed by the Russian ambassador. I am not credulous, as you may have gathered. The many reports of human rights organisations and the testimonies of refugees themselves are flooding into our offices via the ordinary mail and via e-mail. Mr Poettering was right to mention a few organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Médecins sans Frontières and Amnesty International. He mentioned the testimony of Mary Robertson and of a Chechen Member of Parliament. It is obvious that daily life in Chechnya today is not that simple. And we must therefore invite our Russian colleagues to enter into consultation and to promote goodwill. We can hardly label these organisations, these people who are mentioned in our compromise resolution, as agents of international terrorism, as representatives of Bin Laden. This would be all too simplistic. I am therefore delighted that our delegation will be spending half a day next Monday with our Russian colleagues in Chechnya to talk over the difficulties. I am also pleased that, in the compromise resolution which will be voted on in a moment, our delegation will be given the task of setting up a working party, which will very specifically follow the situation in Chechnya and will mount an independent inquiry into what is actually happening in Chechnya. I am therefore thrilled that we are repeating our request of sending an ad hoc delegation to Chechnya. We decided on this in March 2000, but this has not yet been acted upon. I would therefore ask the Parliament Bureau to ensure that this is at long last done. Finally, I would turn to Mr Nielsen on behalf of my Group of the . Parliament has asked you twice to visit Chechnya. Can I make a suggestion to you, Mr Nielsen? We will go together. I am prepared to take some time out, and we will assess the situation in Chechnya together. And we will try to take action at long last. Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you that the delegation next Monday will do everything in its power to move the situation on by one little step and to enter into consultation with our Russian colleagues of the Duma and of the Council of Federations. I thank you, Mr President, for the extra time you have given me.

Political group: Verts-ALE