Mr President, I am glad that we can now get on with what we are meant to be doing rather than continuing to waste valuable time. For ten years now, I have been the rapporteur on the problems of beekeeping in the European Union, and today sees me presenting my seventh report to you. As before, it improves another half-hearted Commission proposal for a regulation on actions in the field of beekeeping. Neither the Commission nor the Council have made much of a response to the many good proposals we have made since 1984 on saving beekeeping in Europe. Since 1997, admittedly, there has been a regulation on the 50% cofinancing of national programmes to improve the production and marketing of honey, for which different amounts are made available to the 15 Member States every year; in one year EUR 10 million, in another EUR 15 million, in yet another EUR 16 million. That is next to nothing in terms of the overall budget of the European Union; it is peanuts. As, yet again, the new regulation proposed by the Commission is far too half-hearted, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has adopted my suggested improvements by an overwhelming majority, with the particular intention of securing additional co-finance for measures under national programmes to support the restoration and development of the Community's bee population, in support of honey analysis laboratories, and for the analysis of honey. My hope and expectation is that you will give this report your unanimous support, not as a farewell present to mark the end of a legislative period, but, as before, out of conviction. (Parliament adopted the text) *** Report (A5-0262/2004) by Carlos Coelho, on behalf of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, on the proposal for a Council Decision establishing the Visa Information System (VIS) (Parliament adopted the text) *** Report (A5-0281/2004) by Kurt Lechner, on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, on the request from Mr Bossi, a former Member of the European Parliament, to defend his privileges and immunities (Parliament adopted the text) *** Report (A5-0282/2004) by Kurt Lechner, on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, on the request from Mr Bossi, a former Member of the European Parliament, to defend his privileges and immunities (Parliament rejected the text) *** Report (A5-0242/2004) by Georg Jarzembowski, on behalf of Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee, on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a European Parliament and Council directive amending Council directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways (Parliament approved the joint text) *** Report (A5-0245/2004) by Dirk Sterckx, on behalf of Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee, on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a European Parliament and Council directive on safety on the Community's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (Railway Safety Directive) (Parliament approved the joint text) *** Report (A5-0243/2004) by Sylviane H. Ainardi, on behalf of Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee, on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a European Parliament and Council directive amending Council Directive 96/48/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system and Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system (Parliament approved the joint text) *** Report (A5-0244/2004) by Gilles Savary, on behalf of Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Railway Agency ('Agency Regulation') (Parliament approved the joint text) *** Report (A5-0259/2004) by Jan Mulder, on behalf of the Committee on Budgets, on draft amending budget No 6/2004 (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** Report (A5-0279/2004) by Fernando Fernández Martín, on behalf of the Committee on Development and Cooperation, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Regulation(EC) No 975/1999 laying down the requirements for the implementation of development cooperation operations which contribute to the general objective of developing and consolidating democracy and the rule of law and to that of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms (Parliament adopted the legislative resolution) *** Report (A5-0148/2004) by Michel Rocard, on behalf of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council decision amending Decision 1419/1999/EC establishing a Community action for the 'European Capital of Culture' event for the years 2005 to 2019 (Parliament adopted the legislative resolution) *** Report (A5-0247/2004) by Sabine Zissener, on behalf of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass) (Parliament adopted the legislative resolution) *** Report (A5-0237/2004) by Paul Rübig, on behalf of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision 2000/819/EC on a multiannual programme for enterprise and entrepreneurship, and in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (2001-2005) (Parliament adopted the legislative resolution) After the vote:

Political group: PPE-DE