Mr President, as has already been said, this House has a long tradition of concern with this issue. I remember how, before 1999, it was above all Mrs Maren Günther who devoted herself to this cause, in which we have achieved a number of successes and made significant progress. Today, we can see how most of the Member States – almost all of them, in fact; only a few have not yet done so – have already ratified the Protocol, so the assertions made only a few years ago that it was, for this or that reason, quite impossible to accede to it, have proven to be without substance. What this shows is that this is all about political will, so I can do no other than appeal to our Estonian, Latvian, Finnish and Polish friends to see to it that they sign up as soon as possible. I would say the same thing to our important ally, the United States of America. They and we may be partners in the war on terrorism, but in that anti-personnel mines have no part; they are themselves an instrument of terror. It is for that reason that we must do everything we can to prohibit production of them and trade in them, whilst also doing more to support the clearance of mines. It has been said, and rightly, that mines hit the poorest regions hardest. A few days ago, we heard from the Commission – and I am right behind them in this – that we intend to conduct accession negotiations with Croatia. Croatia is suffering in that, in the fields of one of its most fertile regions, that between Vukova and Ilok, with its wonderful vineyards, mines continue to be present on a large scale, thus preventing the people from returning home. It is even worse in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in Kosovo, right in the middle of Europe. The same is true, of course, in those regions to which we are particularly committed, such as Africa, which we have been discussing today – and I agree with all those Members who have said that things are at their worst there – and also in Afghanistan. Although we are doing everything to help Afghanistan, our aid is concentrated on a few cities; this is due not only to errors of political judgement on our part, but also to the fact that there are so many mines scattered over wide stretches of the country that reconstruction there is making little if any headway. That, though, is not where the eyes of the world are focused. It is for that reason that I am glad that our resolution states that we have to pay more attention to mine clearance, to ridding the world of mines. It would be utterly absurd, though, if we were to deploy massive resources – as we must – in support of mine action programmes, while, at the same time, states such as our partners or even certain prospective Member States were to be producing new mines, which would then be laid. That would be nonsense from any rational person’s point of view. For this reason, there is no alternative to a ban, which must include all Member States of the European Union, and behind which we must throw our whole weight, both economically and in terms of foreign policy. Commissioner, I want to endorse your statement that it is not only Europe that must unequivocally ban these mines, but all the states on this earth, including the 44 that are still creating difficulties.

Political group: PPE-DE