Mr President, on behalf of the Group of the , I would like to say a few words on the subject of the Middle East and Yugoslavia, also in connection with contributions from previous speakers. The dramatic developments in the Middle East have of course caused a huge backlash and emotions among the European public and here in Parliament have inevitably run high in the wake of the violence of the past few days and the large number of victims – and rightly so. Following the summit meeting in Sharm-el-Sheikh where all parties involved were present in order to find a way to freeze the violence and to re-open the dialogue between Barak and Arafat, we established that it is very difficult – even if, for a fleeting moment, it seemed as if it were possible – to halt the violence. At the moment, it appears that the voice on the streets is stronger than the will for peace. Nevertheless, we all know that there are huge numbers of citizens, both in Israel and in Palestine, who are simply finding out – in the hope of peace – how tough life is as long as peace has not really been established. That is why we back Mr Galeote and Mr Morillon in saying that it is up to us, as the European Union, to do our bit in order to give peace a chance. We have had the protagonists, namely the Speakers of the Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council, in our midst. That was at a time when the spirit of Oslo and the spirit of Camp David were alive, even if Camp David had just colla d, it was, so close to peace, nevertheless alive. This is not the case today, but we did witness that the Arab leaders have been willing to show restraint. We have witnessed that Mr Solana has managed to secure a stronger position in the peace process on our behalf. I believe it is right that today, we once again have a joint resolution before us from all parties in which we recognise – with due consideration for maintaining an equilibrium – that both parties must restore the peace; we as nations cannot do that. But we need to make every effort to give them international support in order to give them that opportunity. This message could also be conveyed by the French Presidency. We would also like to ask the French Presidency to re-deploy the entire Mediterranean-European partnership as an instrument in the forthcoming ministerial meeting in Marseilles. For dialogue in the region must of course be held on a wider platform and if all players take part, there is a chance that both nations will find a way to peace from within. The other point I wanted to raise is the topic of Yugoslavia. Needless to say, we in this Parliament can only rejoice at the victory of the Yugoslav people and the election of Mr Kostunica as President. It was a choice in favour of democracy. It was a choice for Europe. The sanctions have been lifted. The European Agency for Reconstruction has been deployed and so has the CARDS programme. The humanitarian programme has been extended to include refugees and other people who have been driven out of their homes. The republic is being given the opportunity to take part in the stability and association process. It is also being given the chance to participate in the stability pact and, along with this, to establish contact with their counterparts in the neighbouring countries, to recognise the sovereignty and, as such, to pave the way for a democratic process. We believe that the democratic process within Yugoslavia can only be viable if it is also respectful towards the neighbouring countries, and recognises their sovereignty too. It was a good, major step forward to make those EUR 200 million available for the Federal Republic. At the same time, we would ask the Council to operate in the same spirit during the budget negotiations for 2001. For without adjusting the perspective in chapter IV, we will simply allow Africa or Asia to foot the bill once again for something we should attempt to set up ourselves in Yugoslavia in terms of democratic values. Let us apply the same generosity of spirit which you, the Council, have shown this year with regard to 2001. In the Group of the , we therefore urge you to apply the spirit which you managed to apply previously in the budget negotiations, to the budget negotiations for 2001.

Political group: PSE