Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of my group, I hope that the moment of truth has come for the Members’ Statute. I would first of all like to acknowledge the perseverance and tenacity of the rapporteur, Mr Rothley, not as a member of my group but as a representative of Parliament as a whole, and also the perseverance of the President, because we have been working together for a long time and, before he was President, we had taken certain actions which I would like to remind you of in order to explain the points under discussion. At the beginning of this legislature, after the adoption during the last one of the Rothley report, we created a working group in order to be able to define the most controversial elements of the Statute and I would like to point out that an ex-Secretary of the Council and an ex-Secretary of the Commission participated actively in that working group, as well as other important personalities, because we wanted to deal objectively with an issue with a constitutional dimension. We always talk about the institutions, but people work in the institutions, and we, as representatives of the European citizens, must be equal when it comes to legislating. It is not acceptable that we are creating legislation which is applicable equally to all citizens of the Union when we are in such a different, and in some ways such a questionable situation. In this regard we must recognise that public opinion and the media are right when they make certain criticisms. We must therefore resolve this issue. The Constitution has not been approved – it is true – but during this year – and also with the participation of the Council – we have been able to take a step forward with the approval of the Statute on European Political Parties. And it is not that we are soldiers of the political parties, but we are part of these formations which since the Treaty of Maastricht – when there were recognised – contribute to expressing the Union’s democratic will. Therefore, within this passionate and extremely complex debate, I believe that this is an occasion when – and I hope this is demonstrated in the vote – we have been able to achieve unity in the House – in Parliament – so that we can express ourselves clearly. As the President-in-Office of the Council has pointed out, it falls to us to decide on the Statute which you have to approve. I believe that the step we have taken responds to a philosophy of shared legislative power, which is what we have advocated for legislation in the European Union. In other words, we do not want to do it against your will or in confrontation with the States and that is why Parliament is now stretching out its hand to you in order to be able to resolve this thorny issue. On the three issues raised – which I hope will be approved in the resolution – which my group advocates, I believe that the President-in-Office of the Council has been very clear and explicit in relation to primary law, with the reimbursement of expenditure and with taxation. He has also talked about the level of remuneration and I also believe that he has made an interesting observation on the problems it can prevent. There is a final issue on which nothing has been explicitly said, but I believe that the President-in-Office of the Council has also spoken on behalf of the next Presidency, expressing the Irish Presidency’s desire to continue with a shared will with this process. I therefore believe that before 15 January we may have a positive solution for the Statute, which I believe is one of the most important advances we can achieve in terms of dignifying the work of MEPs and the resolution of one of the Union’s most difficult and complex constitutional issues. (Applause)

Political group: PSE