Mr President, Mr Solana, Commissioner Patten, I am sure we are all aware of the responsibility that the world, including the European Union, has towards all peoples to ensure development, progress and peace. I find the behaviour of those veteran pacifists who claim to be anti-war on ideological grounds, setting themselves up as champions of peace, infantile, as if all the others were warmongers. We are all for peace, we are all against war, we are all against weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, how do the professional pacifists think the weapons of mass destruction can be destroyed if Saddam Hussein is not making the sites and stores known to the UN inspectors? It is irresponsible to make out that the world is divided into those who are for and those who are against peace. The civilised world, all civilised people, all people aware of their own dignity, are against war. That is why I am asking you all not to draw a line through Parliament, for the distinction would, in this case, be purely for manipulative ends. I am one of those who consider that the role of the UN must be strengthened and that international policing measures must be decided by the United Nations, despite the need for far-reaching UN reform. However, I am also convinced that we must leave behind the Yalta approach once and for all and that debates on the dangerous situations threatening the world must include all the States which have a significant role to play in the world. We can show our gratitude towards the US in many ways, just as the US can show its support for Europe by not exporting egotistical, blinkered economic short-sightedness. It is in the common interest, the interest of both Europe and the United States, to have the closest possible relationship with Russia. It was a wise move to include it in the Nato Council, and we must continue this forward-looking process and involve Russia in world decision-making. This is important for European integration, which must continue with the entry of the Balkans into the Union one by one and the evaluation of all the other accession applications. I would like to reiterate that the Arab League’s decision to approve the UN resolution is significant, just as it is important for States governing Muslim peoples to approve it, for we need to isolate the fundamentalists, the extremists, the totalitarians, the imperialists. We need to tell the world that Islam is a religion worthy of respect and that terrorism, which is the product of fundamentalism, is to be unreservedly condemned and combated. We cannot now exclude the possibility of an international policing operation to disarm Saddam Hussein, but this must be decided by a UN decision, after every avenue suggested by the inspectors that does not involve bloodshed has been tried, as General Morillon too has called for. I believe, moreover, that we have to thank the United States for having kept the spotlight on the Iraqi question and for now deploying a powerful military machine which is ready for action. The situation is responding perfectly to the US treatment, and armed conflict may well be avoided, if Iraq creates the necessary conditions for peace. Europe has therefore been dependent on the US thus far and must find its own role in the world, not just through the creation of a rapid reaction force but, above all, through effective coordination of foreign policy. We must strive to discern Europe’s role, on every question, not just Iraq. To this end, I believe that we must invite Ariel Sharon, who has now been placed in a strong position by his electorate, to attend an international conference on the Middle East, in order to try and find a peaceful solution for all the regions which need, first and foremost, to abandon the culture of hate and encourage mutual respect and recovery of the States. Europe’s current role, then, is important and will become even more so if we succeed in influencing North America as well as Russia with Western culture, so that it will commit to respect for freedom and, at the same time, to upholding the principle of solidarity. Our culture will have to face immense challenges in the future, and it will win through if it is fully aware of its responsibility to mankind.

Political group: PPE-DE