Mr President, I am glad to see Commissioner Kinnock here, but where is Commissioner Prodi? What official business could be more important than this debate this morning? Perhaps we could have an answer before the end of the debate. Let me begin by welcoming the moves made by the Irish presidency so far towards garnering consensus for the draft Constitutional Treaty. In recent weeks a number of positive indicators have suggested an increased willingness on the part of Member States to agree a workable compromise. Outstanding differences of opinion need to be ironed out in a committed and systematic way to break the remaining deadlock. Minister Roche and, indeed, the Taoiseach, have my wholehearted support in rising to the difficult task ahead of them in the months leading up to enlargement and the European elections. A simplified single Treaty will make the EU of 25 more intelligible to the citizens of Europe by defining the EU and Member States' competences clearly. It will introduce reforms that streamline the workings of the EU and will facilitate decision-making in an enlarged Union. Finally and very importantly, it will also help to dispel the many myths that have grown up. Primary among these myths is the one about the draft Treaty leading to the creation of a so-called super-state. An entity that cannot raise taxes autonomously, is not authorised to run budget deficits, has no right to raise a military force and, most importantly, cannot act outside the competences given to it by the Member States is not a recipe for a super-state by any stretch of the imagination. The EU can only spend a maximum of 1.2% of the combined GDP of all its Member States. Compare this to the only super-state in the world today – the United States – the federal government of which spends 20% of GDP, and you can see what a nonsense this accusation is. The Constitutional Treaty is a voluntary agreement made between consenting governments whose national parliaments would, under its terms, in fact be given stronger roles with regard to scrutiny of the Commission's legislative proposals. The foremost achievement of the European project to date has been to put an end to the rivalry and antagonism of the last century that pushed this continent into two world wars, which cost 56 million lives. The recent conflagration in the Balkans highlights the latent potential for destruction. We should have the courage to use our experience and our position in the world to promote peace and stability in the global arena and to treat the problems of displacement and terrorism at source, for example by helping to ensure an economic future for the millions of young people living in the Middle East. I should like to ask the President-in-Office what stage has been reached in meeting the Lisbon commitments. This is on the IGC agenda as well, but so far all we have heard about is a European Commission action plan for enterprise – which received a very lukewarm reception indeed and was accused of lacking focus and tangible recommendations. I would end by saying to the President-in-Office that the jury is out, the ball is in his court and that he has all our support.

Political group: PPE-DE