Mr President, holding a Presidency is always an opportunity for a country to demonstrate its commitment to a common cause which is no less than moving European integration forward in a way that benefits the citizens. Mr Aznar, I know that you have a difficult job, that the international context, in political and economic terms, is complicated and furthermore, as has been said, that the Belgian Presidency has set a very high standard. But have no doubt, Mr President, that the Spanish Socialists will cooperate unreservedly in making the Presidency a success for Spain and for Europe. There will never ever be disloyalty from our side. Others may show some. We hope that you do it well, because we want this Presidency to give Spain prestige within Europe. Therefore, Mr President, your personal effort and that of the members of your government will have to rise to the occasion. Mr President, in your communication you have listed Europe’s current priorities. Enlargement, the Lisbon process, the international coalition for freedoms and against terrorism, the single area of security and justice, the external policy, relations with the Mediterranean countries, the role of Europe in Latin America: that is your agenda, Mr President. But we Socialists would have liked to hear you make some specific commitment, an ambitious initiative relating to some of these issues. For example, we would have liked it if, when talking about the Lisbon process, you had stressed the social aspects. Because the Lisbon process agreed a strategic objective which, together with the construction of a more prosperous and competitive economic area, included the objectives of full employment and greater cohesion. Please commit yourself, Mr President, to making all the coordination methods relating to these social agenda strategies increasingly Community methods. Associate the European Parliament, the unions and employers with this process. In our view, this would mean more Europe. I will give another example: the Mediterranean and Latin America are European priorities, but a good Spanish Presidency, given its special closeness and relations with these two regions, should be able to put the emphasis on them. Nevertheless, we do not notice in your programme concrete initiatives to revitalise dialogue and cooperation beyond the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Development Bank, which by the way was foreseen in 1995 in Barcelona and later in Laeken. You do not tell us how or when you are going to conclude the negotiations with Mercosur and with Chile. We note the lack of concrete commitments. Mr President, we are glad that you have chosen the motto ‘More Europe’, and not because it is a classic of the Socialist family. I will tell you now that we will not judge you by the number of meetings you hold in six months, but we will judge you on the results. So you must move on from words to actions, Mr President. What do you mean by more Europe? I imagine that it will not be, as Minister Piqué said, that Europe should speak with a single voice in 2050, because, as country folk would say, ‘that is a journey that requires no saddlebags’. I am truly impressed by the ambition of the Minister for External Affairs. More Europe means more security, but also more freedom. More Europe means more employment but also less inequality. More Europe means more democracy and more participation. More Europe also means a Europe that is more active in the defence of human rights. More Europe, in summary, also means less nationalism, of either the old type or the new type. Mr President, if you act in this way, we will be the first to applaud you. We want you to be successful and we want to celebrate your success together.

Political group: PSE