First of all, I should like to congratulate the rapporteur, and thank her for the efforts she has made in this field. I know that the negotiations with the Commission and the Council have not been easy and that, above all, the time available was very short, which brings me to my first point. I have the impression that the Commission and the Council, certainly since the European Parliament was granted codecision powers in Amsterdam in the field of development cooperation, have a tendency to try to rush proposals of this kind through Parliament. And due to lack of time, there is, in fact, little opportunity for us to discuss these matters in any great detail. And if you ask who will ultimately be responsible for how the money is spent, it is not the Council, nor the Commission, but we, the people’s representatives. It is thus regrettable that there is so little time available. I should now like to turn to the report on decentralised cooperation. As you know, to us, , civil society is not just a hollow phrase. And we are pleased that other groups are also gradually beginning to recognise its importance. Needless to say, the involvement of NGOs and social organisations in granting aid to developing countries is of key significance. It is an important step on the road to greater independence and a higher level of self-sufficiency for the people in the affected areas. What we should bear in mind – and various NGOs with whom I have been in contact concerning the report remind me – is the importance of a well-defined framework for decentralised aid in order to prevent this aid from becoming fragmented. This brings me to the amendments I have tabled on behalf of our group. In order to provide targeted, decentralised aid, it is important for the Commission to give us the expected notification about civil society promptly. Mrs Carrilho made reference to this as well. The organisations on the ground, those who are actively involved in the countries themselves, would like to know where they stand. And the promise was that the Commission would have this notification ready under the Belgian Presidency. The Agreement of Cotonou underlines the role of civil society. However, it is important for non-ACP countries too for a preliminary debate to be held about this, so that decentralised cooperation can be placed in a more strategic framework and so that we gain more clarity concerning the future of this Regulation; in other words, on what is set to happen after 2003. This is why I wanted the Commission to be explicitly reminded of this promise in the report. We are all watching the events in Zimbabwe unfolding with sadness. We notice how a country which, to a large extent, relies on aid from the EU, treats all appeals from the same EU for fair and democratic elections with contempt, and even forces us to withdraw our observation mission. Is this not the ultimate proof that the traditional model of development cooperation does not work? Personally, I am convinced that development from the bottom up, which directly involves small groups of citizens, has a far more positive effect with an eye to the fair, democratic and self-sufficient society which we hope to build.

Political group: PPE-DE