Mr President, Commissioner, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in the light of the grave global situation, I have no desire to enter into a puerile argument with my fellow Member, Mr von Wogau. Mr von Wogau has just accused the Socialist Group of having the worst of intentions. This is certainly not the policy we are defending here. We must bear in mind that the attacks of 11 September have not only caused great human suffering. They may also have far-reaching consequences for civil liberties and for the global economy. Before 11 September, the United States was clearly already experiencing a slowdown and Japan was already in a bad way. However, before 11 September a slowdown was already evident in Europe. It had proved necessary to revise some forecasts downwards. Furthermore, it is clear that the situation in Europe and worldwide will be worse during the third quarter than it was during the second quarter. What we need to do now is prevent a recession. As we are all aware, a recession is defined as negative growth for two consecutive six-month periods. According to Mr von Wogau, we must now wait six months to see if we are really in a recession. However, I believe that we must respond by pursuing a pragmatic policy. I think that Europe owes it to herself to respond to this threat of a recessionary spiral with a proactive economic policy. This should be achieved within the European Union by improving the coordination of economic policies. The Council representative said just this to the House. The European Union should also increase political cooperation with all its economic partners, including developing countries. We would like to establish a pragmatic policy like that of the United States, although, as far as I know, the United States does not have a Socialist government... We should of course take account of the Growth and Stability Pact. We should not encourage Member States to exceed budgetary deficit limits, especially the 3% threshold. Nevertheless, as the Council representative has said, we must assess the long-term viability of public finances. The Growth and Stability Pact states that public finances should be balanced, or almost balanced. We must also respond in the short term. Economic stabilisers can have a role to play. We are experiencing the consequences of a negative external event. The Growth and Stability Pact allows for us to respond to negative external events. I do not wish to engage in ideological debate. Mr von Wogau’s interpretation of the Growth and Stability Pact is merely theological. We are not calling for state aid. Nor are we calling for quick-fix solutions. We are calling for selective measures to support sectors badly affected by the current economic situation. Ladies and gentlemen, lastly, I would like to stress that we are not facing a war between different civilisations. Terrorism does not represent any civilisation. Terrorism negates everything that is human. We need a coalition against terrorism, but we also need a coalition against poverty. The World Bank has recently published information on the consequences of the attacks on New York for developing countries. We must not only deplore the loss of thousands of lives in New York and Washington. We must also lament the fact that there are tens of thousands of other victims amongst the children of the poorest countries in the world. These are the people we must respond to. (Applause)

Political group: PSE