Nicola Zingaretti (PSE). – (IT) Mr President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I am one of those who have appreciated and still appreciate the efforts made by this Presidency to try to revitalise Europe, with its hopes and its challenges, at this difficult time.

It has done so through actions and commitments, including practical ones. I refer to the positive outcome of the Turkish question, which would not have been possible without a strong commitment from the UK Presidency, and to its ability to give direction, vision and some clear objectives that were subsequently put into practice, at least potentially, at Hampton Court, namely universities, energy, security and defence policy.

Precisely from looking at those great ambitions and the few concrete results achieved, however, I must say that I am increasingly convinced – and I invite you all to reflect on this as well – that there is an enormous contradiction between the potential of that Europe and the illusion that such results can be achieved by a Europe that has less money than it needs and, above all, is unwilling to change its rules.

What I mean is that, even if we only want to achieve half of those objectives and we want to treat each other fairly, we have to deal thoroughly with the core issues of the crisis. Addressing those issues implies having more resources, which will have to be used better; it also implies having less intergovernmental Europe and more integrated Europe, more political Europe, meaning new rules for the Commission, precisely so that we can achieve the objectives that we have already set ourselves.

The only possible way forward now is to design a new institutional architecture and to share policies to an ever greater extent. Maintaining the status quo, which is perhaps the UK Presidency’s greatest achievement, will inevitably lead to a renationalisation of policies, aggravating the crisis, increasing governments’ powers of veto and diminishing the ability of summits to reach decisions.

I hope, therefore, that these six months will succeed in convincing even the most sceptical that it is not enough to have good ideas and to show willingness: we must also realise that either we have the courage to change by taking a leap forwards along the road to integration, or we die.