7. Protocol to the EC-Tajikistan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (


Documents received: see Minutes


Formal sitting - Hungary
Mr President of the Republic of Hungary, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to welcome you to the plenum of the European Parliament, President Sólyom.
President Sólyom is a distinguished lawyer who has always demonstrated his determination to protect the law, political freedom and human dignity. He was one of the first five judges whose appointments were agreed at the national Round Table held in Hungary in 1989, when that country and others found their freedom.
As President of the Constitutional Court, President Sólyom had a huge influence on the decisions that strengthened the young Hungarian democracy and institutions.
As the Third President of the Republic of Hungary, Mr Sólyom has increased the weight and prestige of his country.
He is a defender of social and environmental rights. He commanded respect during the first year of his term in office, carrying out his duties with caution, but acting firmly when necessary.
He is also a committed environmentalist. This has led him to create a European Group of Green Presidents, that is to say, of heads of state concerned about environmental problems, an original and creative initiative.
(Applause)
You can imagine which group the Members applauding you belong to.
Fifty years ago, the uprising of the Hungarian people confirmed the strength of popular support for democratic principles and their will to dictate their own national destiny. We are currently remembering and celebrating a series of milestones.
It all began in 1989, when his country proclaimed its independence and in 1990, when the Hungarian Parliament declared 23 October a Hungarian national holiday, demonstrating that the legacy of the 1956 Revolution is still alive amongst us.
At its plenary sitting yesterday, the European Parliament commemorated the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; this Thursday we shall approve a resolution relating to it. Furthermore, this afternoon the European Parliament will mark this commemorative day by inaugurating the photographic exhibition 'Hungary - Past and Future - 1956-2006', to which I would like to invite all of the Members of this Parliament.
Mr President, thank you for being with us at such an important time for the history of your country and also for the history of the whole of Europe.
(Applause)
President of the Republic of Hungary. Mr President, Members of the European Parliament, Representatives of the Council and the Commission, Ladies and Gentlemen, Hungary and the world celebrate together the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the fight for freedom. It is encouraging and elevating to feel that there is one commemorative event with which everyone can identify. There are no differences of opinion, no reservations. Everyone pays tribute to the memory of the Hungarian heroes of 1956. Now, after 50 years, with a historical perspective, and after the fall of the Soviet communist regime, we can clearly see the historic importance of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the fight for freedom.
But this is also an event when the world celebrates itself - and it has every reason to do so. We can re-experience together the former enthusiasm with which peoples took sides with the Hungarian Revolution. The world can now celebrate its generous sacrifice: Austria, which had just been liberated, opening the borders for 160 000 Hungarian refugees; the blood donations in Poland to help to rescue those wounded in the fight for freedom; the tens of thousands of Hungarian refugees who found new homes in various countries around the world.
But the real reason for this commemoration and joy is that Hungary today is an independent, sovereign and democratic State, with the rule of law, where the country can become a member of international organisations, such as the European Union, of its own free will.
It is to the credit of 1956 that the world looks upon Hungary with a positive mind. The heroic struggle of the Hungarian freedom-fighters against Soviet predominance has earned Hungary recognition and appreciation everywhere up to the present day.
It has become the custom, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, to present the Hungarian Revolution as a mortal blow to the Soviet world system. That is not how anyone saw it during the early years of the military compulsion and the years of terror dispensed by the Kádár system. At most, 1956 questioned the communist ideology and presented a dilemma to the left-wing, pro-Soviet section of the intelligentsia in western Europe, by making them face facts. These attitudes can still be seen as a measure of intellectual sincerity. But politically, the Soviet Union had learnt that it could assert itself in the region without hindrance or constraint: the Western powers had no direct security or economic interests there.
There was an ambivalence between the real political intentions and propaganda of the great Powers, and thereby an ambivalence in the expectations of the Hungarian nation. Neither the American nor the French or British Governments intended to intervene, or even query the integrity of the Soviet sphere of influence - they made this clear to the Soviet Union in October. But they left the Hungarian Government isolated and uninformed and the freedom-fighters and the population under a misapprehension, for the propaganda of the State-sponsored western radio stations urged them to trust in the arrival of liberating assistance.
The communists could build the Berlin Wall in 1961 and use military intervention to crush the Prague Spring reform movement in 1968. What caused it to relinquish its sphere of influence in the Baltic and central and eastern Europe in 1989, and the collapse itself, was not 1956, but inherent systemic weaknesses and the Soviet Union's inability to compete either economically or in the arms race.
From another point of view, however, the Hungarian Revolution and struggle for independence provided the first and weightiest evidence of the instability of the Communist regimes in the central European States, which possessed different historical, political, and cultural traditions from those of the Soviet Union. These States had traditions of democracy. National independence had become something of almost intrinsic value. The struggles in Poland and Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and in Poland again, headed by the Solidarity trade union, from the 1980s onwards, were concurrently struggles for basic democratic freedoms and for limiting Soviet influence. These events and struggles led to the democratic transitions in central Europe in 1989-90.
A common feature of the 1956 revolution and the change of regime in 1989 is that both rejected party-state communism. Faithfulness to the revolution and the legitimacy of our claims to it depend on whether we allow the line between our free Hungary today and the Hungary we had before 1989 to blur.
The parallel lesson of 1956 and 1989 is that in both cases, history surpassed the aspirations that wanted more freedom within a socialist system. The greatness of Premier Imre Nagy lies in the fact that he recognised that. He stepped out of his communist past; he stepped out of the Soviet world system. He remained a left-wing politician, but he undertook an historic role, he accepted the fate that the revolutionary Hungarian nation offered to him. And he would rather die than retreat.
(DE) On 22 October, the eve of the revolution, Heads of State, prime ministers and other distinguished guests took part in a gala event at the Budapest State Opera. Some of those invited were from the countries that, at the time, had taken in many Hungarian refugees.
By the end of 1956, more than 153 000 Hungarians had fled to Austria, and another 30 000 followed them later. Austria selflessly ensured that these refugees were accommodated and cared for, and organised the international aid that had become almost indispensable. This aid extended to advice, legal assistance, help in finding work and even to schooling and religious ministry. Austria also paved the way for emigration to third countries. However, a tenth of the Hungarians remained in Austria, a country to which Hungarians had always felt close.
Austria's aid was not, however, restricted to helping the refugees. Our neighbour did not just follow the events from close by, but had real empathy for Hungary. The occupying forces had only recently left the country; the Red Army had only recently moved out of Vienna. People in Austria knew what it meant to live in a country that was not free. They had experienced on a day-to-day basis how a lack of self-determination penetrated and damaged everything. We also shared experience of totalitarian regimes.
We are also particularly grateful to the Federal Republic of Germany. The first Hungarian refugees arrived in Germany on 2 November 1956. When the government realised how many refugees there were, it decided to grant 10% of them asylum, even though they had initially, on 7 November, only wanted to accept 3 000. Although the refugees and exiles from East Germany were already putting a major strain on the German welfare system, the Hungarians were welcomed with great sympathy. The German Red Cross spent a total of DM 30 million on supporting the refugees. 20 000 Hungarian refugees made a new home for themselves in Germany. 1 200 students were integrated into German universities, and a bilingual secondary school was set up in Kastl.
On behalf of the Hungarian people, I would like to thank you for that.
(HU) The commemoration of 1956 has to remember the liberation experienced at the time, with its sense of elemental and pure joy. This is what radiates from the faces of the demonstrators on 23 October 1956 visible on every surviving photograph and film. And this is what is mentioned by everyone who remembers.
I would like to conclude with the words of a renowned writer. Géza Ottlik wrote: 'If you were not there from the beginning to the end, no poetic imagination, no fervent revolutionary heart, not even the mind of a genius can grasp what it was like. I could not have imagined beforehand either the happiness of walking through the streets of Budapest, because I had not known, I simply had no idea that such happiness existed ... No one values his wretched life - perhaps made too wretched - more dearly than the abstract honour of the homeland. See the faces; notice ... their relieved sense of calm. For the main thing is this: not the brave resolve, not the heroic daring, but what shines in their eyes: a glad relief. They are marching, together or separately, facing tanks, cannons, and machine guns aimed at them, with a profound, happy serenity. Nothing is dearer to them than their regained human dignity.'
Thank you.
Thank you very much for having shared with us your thoughts about the events that we are commemorating today, Mr President. We wish your country all the best.
Europe has acted as a beacon that has guided many countries, not just in the East, but also in the West and the South of Europe, towards freedom and democracy.
There is no question that the things you have said to us will increase the younger generations' knowledge of those historic events. We thank you very much for being here and we hope that you and the Hungarian Government can continue to make progress towards full integration into the European Union. Thank you very much.
(Applause)
(The formal sitting was closed at 12.25 p.m.)
(FR) Mr President, regarding the agenda for our sitting, I think, unless I am mistaken, that it had been announced that the voting would begin at 12.30 p.m. I think that probably explains why a number of fellow Members are still not here. Might not voting time quite simply be begun at 12.30 p.m., as announced?
(Applause)
The vote has been announced and everybody is continuing with the House's work. I do not believe that it is appropriate to wait until it is precisely 12.30 p.m. since I made it very clear that it would take place when the formal sitting ended.
(ES) Mr President, I heard you, not via simultaneous interpreting but directly, in your wonderful Castilian, and you stated, at the end of the debate on this issue this morning, that the vote would take place at 12.30 p.m. You did not say anything else: you said that the vote would take place at 12.30 p.m.
I would therefore ask you, out of respect for the honourable Members in relation to an extremely delicate issue, where every vote counts, as they always do, to be sensitive enough to take the vote at 12.30 and not at 12.25 or 12.26.
Thank you for complimenting my use of Castilian, Mr Guardans. In fact, I generally express myself rather well in that language and if I remember rightly, I said 12.30, after the formal sitting. The Minutes will tell us which of us is right, but there is no need for you to call on me to show sensitivity in taking the decisions that I consider to be appropriate.
(ES) Mr President, I would like to reiterate what Mr Guardans said to you: that, at the end of the debate on the peace process, you stated that the vote would be at half past twelve, at 12.30, and, furthermore, in the Castilian that you speak so well, what you said - 12.30, after the formal sitting - is in no way inconsistent with voting time taking place at 12.30.
The second part would simply be a safeguard so that, in the event that the formal sitting does not end at 12.30, the vote could take place after it. That is what your Castilian words mean.
I am not going to take any more points of order.


Implementation of Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts (short presentation)
The next item is a short presentation of the report by Mr Doorn on implementation of Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts.
rapporteur. - (NL) Madam President, this report is about the implementation of the eighth directive on statutory audits of annual accounts. It is a good thing that Parliament is paying closer attention to the implementation and transposal of the legislation we pass here. We in Parliament can decide on the most outstanding rules and regulations, but if those rules and regulations are not implemented and complied with in the Member States, we are wasting our time here.
In the transposal of the eighth directive, too, many things have gone wrong. Key definitions are framed differently in different countries and the number of Member States that have independent public oversight is a long way short of 27. The report calls on the Commission to take steps quickly to correct these deficiencies.
We also wonder whether the method of harmonisation employed, namely minimum harmonisation, is indeed the right way to attain the uniform application of key concepts. Perhaps we do need to think again whether key definitions of this kind are the way forward or whether a different method of harmonisation - one that is not open to multiple interpretations - needs to be used.
Finally, Madam President, the report discusses the Commission's recommendation on the limitation of the civil liability of accountants. Should further measures be necessary in order to achieve convergence in Europe, we shall look forward to the Commission's proposals.
The objective must and will remain to aim for the effective and independent auditing of accountants. The economic crisis has taught us that strict auditing and oversight are indispensible.
Vice-President of the Commission. - (FR) Madam President, honourable Members, I would like first to thank Mr Doorn for his report on the application of the directive on statutory audits of accounts. I would like also to thank the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and more particularly Mrs van den Burg, who has contributed to the production of this report.
In the context of the financial crisis, it is essential that all Member States who are currently behind should quickly transpose the directive to achieve the objectives set. The Commission continuously monitors the transposition status of the directive in the Member States. A dashboard is regularly published on our website.
The results relating to the Member States' performance should clearly improve this spring. Mr Doorn's report has certainly facilitated such an improvement. As your report emphasises, the Commission has already adopted the recommendation on quality assurance and the recommendation on the limitation on the civil liability of statutory auditors. I thank Parliament for its support for these two initiatives.
The recommendation on the limitation on the civil liability of statutory auditors is part of a strategy to reduce the concentration in the auditing market. To explore other options along the same lines, a consultation on control structures in audit companies and on their consequences for the auditing market was published in November.
The European Parliament is asking the Commission to assess the national laws transposing the directive and to inform it of the effects of the measures taken by the Member States in the wake of the recommendation on the limitation on the civil liability of auditors. At the appropriate time, we will be happy to prepare these assessments, taking into account all the issues raised in the report by Mr Doorn. This is a commitment from Commissioner McCreevy that I am happy to pass on to you. I thank Mr Doorn and I dare to hope that we will see practical results.
The item is closed.
The vote will take place tomorrow.


Texts of agreements forwarded by the Council: see Minutes


Petitions: see Minutes


Approval of the minutes of the previous sitting: see Minutes


Statement by the President
Given the tragedy that has struck the region of Murcia and specifically, the town of Lorca, I should like to express, on behalf of the Presidency, our solidarity with that community and with all the victims, several of whom have been killed. The President will convey, on behalf of Parliament, a message of solidarity and condolence to the victims and to the community affected.


Verification of credentials: see Minutes


Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (announcement of motions for resolutions tabled): see Minutes


8. Programming implementation of the 10th European Development Fund (


One-minute speeches (Rule 150)
The next item is the one-minute speeches on matters of political importance in accordance with Rule 150 of the Rules of Procedure.
(EL) Madam President, first of all a few words on Egypt. The External Action Service will need to be activated to the maximum in the difficult times ahead, in order to protect European citizens in Egypt, the rights of minorities in Egypt and the historic institutions that represent them, such as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria.
Now to come back to my basic subject of waste. Although we have a high-level legislative framework, almost every Member State faces infringement difficulties. Many are reporting rubbish crises and some sectors, such as cross-border transportation of waste, are in mass breach of Community law. At the same time, for political reasons, the famous 'not in my back yard' policy, the Member States are not participating as effectively as they should in the efforts being made.
The Commission therefore needs to propose new additional instruments, such as extending the responsibilities of the European Environmental Agency and the facility for the Union to send missions to verify information in the Member States. The Commission needs to think about this in light of the proposals for 2012.
(RO) Madam President, I would like to highlight the situation in Romania regarding the blatant violation of the principles of the rule of law by the current government. The arrest of a prominent member of the opposition, Constantin Nicolescu, an arrest announced prior to the start of the judicial hearing and without any hard evidence, demonstrates the undemocratic way in which the current government is acting. The arrest carried out by political order, along with the contempt shown to ordinary citizens through the antisocial measures adopted by the government, is bringing out onto the streets the people who have been demeaned and condemned to poverty. With the aim of quelling the discontent against abusive, antidemocratic measures, the government has arranged the purchase of anti-riot equipment, amounting to EUR 10 million.
All this paints a clear picture of political dictatorship and of what will happen in the future if these actions which contravene European values go unpunished. We are not protesting against justice, but against politically imposed abuses. The European Union is demanding respect for democracy in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt, but this must be strictly observed in Member States.
(BG) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the unresolved problems for tobacco growers in Bulgaria led to an escalation of tension in certain regions of the country and to protests which saw more than 10 000 participants. They expressed their dissent in the declaration that was adopted about the policy being pursued, which is the reason for their dire financial situation, related to stopping national top-up payments for tobacco production for the 2010 harvest.
In Europe tobacco is grown in 17 of the 27 Member States, with subsidies being provided by their governments in every case. It turns out that Bulgaria is the only Member State delaying the sanctioned national tobacco top-up payment scheme, adopted by law and notified to the European Commission. It provides for aid to be granted to Bulgarian tobacco growers amounting to EUR 76 million, the payment of which is currently being delayed. The delay in granting this aid is condemning hundreds of families to hunger and emigration and is jeopardising civil peace in the country.
(EL) Madam President, today, in a noteworthy atmosphere of unanimity, the European Parliament accepted the call by its President, Mr Buzek, for the European Union to officially recognise the genocide of the Roma, who were victims of the Nazis during the Second World War. As he said, the Roma have been the most repressed minority for a very long time.
But who are we addressing here? Who will apply our jointly decided policies? The Commission ordered a report on European policies on the Roma in 18 countries in July 2008 and the report has been in its possession since June. I tabled a question on this, because I consider that there is no justification for the delay in publishing such a valuable report. In fact, there has been an international call for it to be published. Mrs Reding replied to my question and promised to publish it by the end of December 2010. It is already February 2011 and the report has still not been published. I should very much like to know why.
(PL) Madam President, I have expressed my opinion many times during debates in the European Parliament on EU policy in the field of limiting greenhouse gas emissions, a policy which is very strongly supported by the European Parliament and the European Commission. I have however drawn attention to the fact that this policy is also giving rise to very adverse economic changes. In many sectors, it is resulting in the relocation of industrial plants to other countries outside the European Union.
Unfortunately, the European Commission has not taken any notice, even though numerous fellow Members have highlighted the negative aspects of radically limiting CO2 emissions. We have thus recently learned of the latest major industrial plants planning to move production from Germany and Poland to countries of the former Soviet Union, or even to Africa or South America. These developments require tangible action by the Commission, which continues to lack perspective and vision.
(PT) Madam President, as promised in the Citizens' Agora that the European Parliament organised last week, I should like to relay here the cries of indignation brought to us by the various social organisations that joined us in debates on the economic and financial crisis and its serious consequences of increased unemployment, social inequalities and poverty, despite the fact that 2010 was declared European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
It was requested there that the activities and work of the European Parliament should reflect the indignation of organisations involved in combating poverty, given the social consequences of the crisis and the severity and extent of poverty.
Of the innumerable glaring examples of exploitation, poverty, discrimination and social exclusion, and of the various proposals, demands and suggestions, I would stress those that refer to the role that the European Parliament should play in condemning the situation. Specifically, it should create a taskforce charged with monitoring the consequences of the crisis in the social sphere, and of the measures taken by the Council and the Commission following decisions by the European Parliament, such as those related to the minimum income...
(The President cut off the speaker)
(RO) Madam President, the Schengen Evaluation Working Group has adopted all the evaluation reports for Romania. Its conclusions indicate that Romania meets all the Schengen acquis requirements. Unfortunately, the European Council is refusing to provide the reports to the European Parliament, thereby obstructing the operation of Parliament's procedures. MEPs cannot vote without being familiar with the reports' content. The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs requested the documents, while Romania proposed disclosing them. However, the Council is delaying making a decision without good reason.
I think that, in this situation, Romania is entitled to provide Parliament with all the reports about its accession to the Schengen area. These reports are the only criteria which can be used to base the decision on accession. The request for other criteria to be added does not comply with the European Treaties, is not a European approach and is not based on sound arguments. Romania has met its legal obligation to prepare to protect the Union's external borders and must receive the appropriate response from the EU's institutions.
Madam President, I would like to inform you that democracy in Romania has never seemed under so much pressure during the last 20 years. We have already alerted you regarding the President of the Chamber of Deputies, who falsified the vote for the all-important pensions law. The recent case of the social democrat, Constantin Nicolescu, the Chairman of the Argeş County Council in Romania, proves once again that the methods used by the governing party in Romania brutally threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
All the measures adopted by the government demonstrate that the Democratic Liberal Party in Romania is at war with the entire Romanian people. We cannot allow a democratic member of the European Union to behave undemocratically, arresting people at will and using public institutions to carry out personal vendettas. Together we must defend our rights, our freedoms and our democracy.
Madam President, as an Irish MEP I am asking the EU to deal equitably with an impossible financial situation in Ireland.
Yes, we have to take responsibility for our many failures, but we did not act alone. Casino-type investments from many countries flooded into Irish banks. They have collapsed like a house of cards and Irish taxpayers are shouldering an unbearable burden.
We pay a punitive interest rate of 5.8%, and our ability to repay, signed off in a four-year austerity plan by the EU, is predicated on growth, but that growth cannot happen. Why? Unemployment is increasing even as emigration is rocketing. Businesses are collapsing, and for the fourth consecutive year our GNP has decreased.
And, as the ECB funnels EUR 132 billion in the front door of Irish banks, EUR 110 billion has fled out the back door of those same banks in 2010; EUR 40 billion in December 2010.
The situation is fast becoming untenable and if, as President Barroso said, Europe is part of the solution, serious action is needed now.
Madam President, only last week in my constituency of Northern Ireland, dissident Republican terrorists left two viable bombs in the Antrim Road area of North Belfast. It is really only by the grace of God that today we are not talking about multiple fatalities. Hundreds of people were removed from their homes while the security forces dealt with the danger foisted upon that community.
The target of this foiled attack was police officers in what is the latest in a series of attempts to murder serving officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
These attacks do not make the news programmes in the United Kingdom, let alone across Europe, yet they act as a reminder that, while huge progress has been made in moving Northern Ireland forward, we still have those who want to take us back.
Before Christmas President Barroso met with the Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson, and reiterated his commitment to the Barroso task force. I welcome that work and I also welcome the initial work carried out within this House in relation to peace funding.
(HU) Madam President, we have heard many complaining and indignant voices raised in connection with the Hungarian Presidency. It is interesting that none of these pertained to the EU programme of the Presidency-in-Office. There were some who raised their voices in connection with the media law. The European Commission has already formulated its objections, and the Hungarian Government has shown willingness to amend the law.
The question occurred to me why there has not been the same international interest in the state language law that is in effect in Slovakia to this day, which continues to impose fines for the use of one's mother tongue. Why did the voices raised in alarm over the assertion of fundamental rights in connection with the media law not show concern when one of the most natural human rights of the Hungarian minority of Slovakia was called into question? Others were disturbed by the giant carpet laid out in the Council building, on which a map of Hungary from 160 years ago is depicted. This map represents that we can only build a strong Europe through knowledge of, and respect for, our common history and national values.
Madam President, 14 February, St Valentine's Day, will mark the first ever European Epilepsy Day. St Valentine himself is reputed to have been a sufferer from epilepsy.
Currently six million Europeans suffer from epilepsy. In Scotland this is around 39 000 people, yet just 20 000 Scots have been diagnosed and control their condition with medication. This means that 19 000 people live on a daily basis with the fear of a recurring seizure. Extrapolated across the EU this means millions of people also live with this fear.
On 14 February we must raise awareness of epilepsy. We must also try to get those who have the condition properly diagnosed and call on Member States to have more neurologists who have a specialism in epilepsy. On 15 February there will be a number of events in Parliament and I encourage colleagues to take part. Many of your constituents will be present.
I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome Joanne Hill, a specialist nurse in epilepsy, and Fiona Nicholson, the service manager of a Scottish epilepsy centre.
(HU) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to dedicate the time allotted to me to the case of the Székely people. In the past few days, the President of Romania has unfortunately stated once again that he does not support Székely territorial autonomy. I would welcome it if we could once and for all make things clear here in the European Parliament, and pronounce that the Székely people are entitled to territorial autonomy. This is not a question of the goodwill of Traian Băsescu; the Székely people do have the right to autonomy. I would like to remind everyone that autonomy is an internationally recognised, binding right, and the double standard applied by the European Union when it says that some ethnicities have the right to autonomy while others do not is unacceptable. Basques and Catalans are entitled to autonomy while the Székely are not. On account of this logic, I must say with absolute conviction that those who do not support the Székely people's efforts for autonomy are not Europeans.
(GA) Madam President, I wish to point out that freedom is one of the fundamental purposes of the European Community: freedom to travel, freedom to trade and freedom to work. We do not have freedom to work because we do not have mutual recognition of qualifications.
Today I heard about a physician who worked in Italy who took nine months to get permission to work in Ireland. There is no sense whatever in that. We should look at the UPMC system in the United States; it is a useful example for us. In particular, if we aim to have medical e-services, we must establish this recognition of qualifications. Otherwise, we can not make progress.
(RO) Madam President, the recurring abuse of power by those governing Romania at the moment has plunged the country into the darkest period of its history since 1989. Although Romania has a democratic constitution, its articles are often blatantly flouted. Although, in theory, there is a separation of powers of state, in accordance with democratic principles, in practical terms, one man, President Traian Băsescu, controls all the power in Romania, dictating his orders willy-nilly and abusing power on a daily basis, all in an attempt to destroy the political opposition and stifle any voice which speaks out to offer a viable alternative to the catastrophic Băsescu-Boc administration.
As a European Union Member State, Romania's fate should not be treated with indifference by either the EU institutions or the representatives of the other EU Member States, who should take a stance on this issue. Please do not let yourselves be taken in by the incoherent explanations and sometimes embarrassing excuses offered by those governing Romania or those openly supporting them, whether out of fear or looking out for their own petty interests. Their actions suffice to show those who want to see what the sad reality is in my country.
(RO) Madam President, I have decided that I will regularly remind Mr Buzek about how democracy is progressing in Romania. He has been in the Romanian Parliament and supported the Boc government and Traian Băsescu. I want to tell Mr Buzek that the Romanian Parliament does not have any power and all the laws are adopted and enforced by the government. The Romanian Government does not have any power either because it is Traian Băsescu who appoints ministers, dresses them down and makes announcements any time important measures are taken. In Romania innocent people are also thrown into jail for 30 days, after which they have to stand trial.
I asked Mr Buzek for an official position and I received a reply via a press release from the PD-L party and Traian Băsescu. I urge and await an official position from Mr Buzek.
(LV) Mr President, why, in your opinion, does the European Parliament pass resolutions? Precisely so that they may be implemented. However, it appears that the Latvian government has no intention of implementing the resolution of 11 March 2004. That resolution clearly states that the right to vote in local elections must be granted to people who are permanently resident on Latvian territory. To the question of when Latvia will implement this resolution, we shall possibly receive the answer: 'Kad pūcei aste ziedēs' (in Latvian). In Russian, one would say: 'Kogda rak na gore svistnet', and in English: 'When pigs fly'. It comes down to this - either pigs will start to fly or we must collectively put an end to discrimination against 335 000 people living in Latvia.
Thank you.
(RO) Madam President, we are witnessing today events which will change the course of history in North Africa and elsewhere. Dictatorial regimes cannot stand firm for long anywhere in the world. However, I wish to draw your attention to the fact that new forms of dictatorship can appear, even in a Member State of the European Union regarded as being democratic, namely, Romania. Under the rule of law a person must be considered innocent until convicted by judges, and must stand trial as a free citizen, unless he poses a danger to society.
These universal principles of law are no longer valid in Romania when it comes to President Băsescu and the Liberal Democratic Party in power. Clear proof that arrests are being made in Romania by political order is provided by the statement made by President Băsescu in Strasbourg five hours prior to the arrest of Constantin Nicolescu, and I quote: 'An important member of the Opposition has been arrested', end of quote, even though the latter had not yet reached the court. What clearer evidence is needed to show that President Băsescu decides who will be arrested and when?
(RO) Madam President, I too share the sentiments of my colleagues who have drawn attention to the persecution of the political opposition in Romania, using the legal instruments of a government showing ever-growing evidence of authoritarian abuses. With its popularity rating in free fall and in the wake of a set of austerity measures of brutal severity, having a drastic impact on living standards, the Romanian Government is resorting to increasingly violent antidemocratic methods to hold on to power.
As my colleagues have said, the unjustified and harsh arrest of a prominent member of the opposition, elected directly by the citizens, is the most recent and worrying example in a series of threats and acts of harassment against opposition groups. At the same time, the state budget is being plundered by the government's political supporters whose chaotic measures are deepening the economic and social crisis and increasing social tension to an alarming extent. This is why we are also protesting together against the attacks which are being carried out in an attempt to intimidate opposition politicians and trade unions. I believe that EU forums must take a stance against the blatant violations of democratic rights in Romania.
(ES) Madam President, I should like to share a cause of great satisfaction with you all. A great social and economic pact has recently been signed between the government, union leaders and business leaders in Spain. This agreement establishes Spain as a country capable of joining forces to overcome its difficulties, face up to its challenges and reinforce the welfare state. Ladies and gentlemen, in this global crisis, this agreement is a unique example of how, by society as a whole taking responsibility, we are making agreements with the idea of winning the future and building a strong Spain in a Union that plays an increasingly important role.
That concludes this item.


12. Rear-view mirrors for wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors (vote)
- Report: Mayer


4. Crisis in the fisheries sector (vote)