Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, if, tomorrow, we adopt this compromise in the form in which the political groups have joined in presenting it, we will have reached the end of a never-ending story, and it is to be hoped that the ending we will give it will be a happy one. It is in fact Parliament that is the heart of the European parties, for it was in Parliament that the need arose to develop commonalities within Europe, and, if you bear in mind that 133 political parties are represented today in this House, united in seven political families, that alone shows how there are no limits to the work done for Europe, in this House, by the political groups, which, in the European Parliament, bring together the states whose political parties are elected to the European Parliament. That is, in itself, unbelievably laborious work, and I believe that we sometimes undervalue it. Why has this been a never-ending story? It was Mr Tsatsos – and let me say that I believe this has been his life’s work – who produced the first report to this House aimed at fostering awareness of how necessary European political parties are. Then we had Amsterdam, which made it possible to get an initiative going, but, as the Council at that time was unable to come to an agreement, Parliament’s report was left high and dry in the Council. I would now like to extend warm thanks to the Commission. Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice on 1 February this year, the Commission presented a proposal in the shortest conceivable time; now that we have considered it, I can tell you that they made a very quick job of it. The end result has been that we have not only considered it, but will – it is to be hoped – be finalising it tomorrow. I would like to thank Mr Leinen for his considerable efforts, and I can say on behalf of all of us that, even though we have not got everything we wanted, we still want a solution, and, as I see it, we need one in view of the fact that the Court of Auditors has ended up presenting us with the prospect of having, at the end of this year, to abandon the current practice, which gives the parties stability, and if we do not find a solution, we will then be facing oblivion. That is why, yet again, I would like to ask all those among you who still have doubts, to lend a hand in the completion of a work and in finding an eventual solution, one that is clear and open to scrutiny and, therefore, one that has to work. I would therefore like to thank not only Mr Leinen, but also the Greek Presidency of the Council, which, with all the work it has to do – and there are many other matters to deal with –made a real effort and did everything possible to get the Council to come up with a joint resolution. I do think that we in this House should not only express our appreciation of this, but should also say that it is because everyone has done their bit that we are now coming to a conclusion. In every democratic state the world over, this political order, which secures for the people freedom and co-determination, is founded upon political parties and guaranteed by them. We simply have to see that, as the European Economic Community developed and expanded into the European Union, it was therefore hardly surprising that European political parties should undergo a parallel development. It is for that reason that I am appealing to all those who may perhaps still harbour doubts to play their part in helping us, tomorrow, to achieve a result that will lay a foundation, one on the basis of which political parties can be funded, one that will make the future continuation of this work possible. So, again, I thank all those involved and all those who will, tomorrow, help us to achieve this outcome. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE