Niki Tzavela, on behalf of the EFD Group. – Mr President, much has been said and I would like to add a different note to this meeting.

Years ago, I was having dinner with the late President Gerald Ford in the United States and he was describing to me how the G7 came about. He said he wanted to have a meeting with Callaghan – I think it was – the British Prime Minister, on some issues and Callaghan said why not combine this with a good game of golf? So Ford said, well, the Canadian Prime Minister, Trudeau, is a good player, we should invite him, and then Trudeau – welcoming the invitation – said he had some issues to solve with the French, so why not invite the French Prime Minister. But then when they all discussed it over the phone, they said the Germans are going to be very suspicious, so we need to invite them to this meeting. And when the Germans accepted, they then said that Italy was chairing the European Union for these six months, so they had to be there.

Ford then said to me: you know, Niki, this was the first time I realised you have a Union that is so split, divided and unbalanced. One day, you should have a European budget that is strong enough to compete out there in the global world; the guys are going to be very tough out there. Be careful.

Mr President, I am very pleased as an MEP that I am living at this moment.