Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 13 February 2006 - Strasbourg

10. One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

  President. The next item is the one-minute speeches on matters of political importance.

  Nirj Deva (PPE-DE). – Mr President, I want to draw your attention to a recent conference held in London on drugs in Afghanistan. We face a grave threat from a flood of heroin made from the Afghan poppy, destroying the lives of Europeans, especially young Europeans.

As Chairman of the Afghan Circle in the European Parliament, I know the problem faced by the leaders of Afghanistan, whom I have met many times, with over 60% of their economy being dependent on the poppy. The countries of the region came together for the first time at the London conference to offer support to Afghanistan. Regional cooperation is the way forward.

The distinguished Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Mr Tokaev, for example, said that Kazakhstan is funding a programme which provides Afghan farmers with alternative seeds, equipment and advice on growing alternative crops. Others are doing the same and, as you know, Britain is playing a leading role in the war against drugs.

Our Parliament should have a debate on the global menace of drugs. We talk about terrorism and avian flu, but drugs are destroying many people’s lives.

  Magda Kósáné Kovács (PSE). – (HU) The Directive regulating the legal status of third country nationals residing legally in the European Union came into force on 23 January. They will now be able to work, study or reside in another European Union Member State, as well.

We, the Socialists of the new Member States, have always supported the integration of those arriving from third countries. However, we cannot accept a situation where they are in a more favourable position on the labour market than the labour force of the new Member States. Post-enlargement labour market movement statistics do not justify the fear of social dumping. The Commission report, accepted on 8 February, states that the positive effect of labour force movement is a decisive factor. However, the Austrian Presidency still supported the extension of restrictions. The task of the European Parliament is to represent all European citizens. Therefore I call upon all my colleagues in this House to engage in a process of joint thinking, so that we can eliminate this contradiction as soon as possible.

  Antolín Sánchez Presedo (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, the European citizens lack a common language. The Union’s institutions therefore have services to make communication possible.

In Spain, the existence of Castilian as a common language and its recognition as the State’s official language does not prevent the recognition of the citizens’ right to use other Spanish languages which have official status: Galician, Catalan and Basque. All of them are European languages as well, they belong to the European area – or hyper-area – of communication, and have a European vocation.

The Spanish Government has proposed a formula for the administrative agreement to promote, without any cost to the Community institutions nor to the other Member States, the reasonable use of these languages at Union level. This proposal conforms to the linguistic legislation in force and has been accepted by the Council and the Committee of the Regions.

Mr President, I do not know of any reason why there has not been any progress on their acceptance, since the conditions for the cooperation requested have been met, Parliament’s role as the house of the citizens will be enhanced, institutional coherence will be provided and democratic value will be created. Our institution cannot be left behind everybody else in this field.

  Gisela Kallenbach (Verts/ALE). – (DE) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am from Leipzig. Three weeks ago now, two engineers were abducted in Iraq, and there is so far no sign of them being still alive other than a video message in which their captors threaten to kill them both.

This is upsetting not only their relatives and immediate family, but also a very, very large number of people in Leipzig, who are very worried and are expressing their sadness in prayers for peace and vigils. An abduction of this sort is not a merely national matter; since both men are both German and European citizens, I would like to ask the Council and the Commission what they have done in the meantime to save these hostages’ lives, and I beg them to send a message of solidarity and practical help. I ask you, Mr President, to do likewise on behalf of this House.

  Jean-Claude Martinez (NI). – (FR) Mr President, I should like simply to draw our fellow Members’ attention to the dreadful and tragic situation of the wine growers from southern Europe and, more specifically, from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, thousands – tens of thousands – of whom will take to the streets in the large cities of southern France this Wednesday in order to voice their distress.

A wine grower’s annual turnover is EUR 20 000. His fixed costs come to EUR 15 000, which leaves him with EUR 5 000 on which to live throughout the entire year. We know what is behind this tragic situation: unreasonable free trade agreements, like the ones concluded as recently as November 2005 with the United States, South Africa and so on, that is to say with countries in which the climate and the environmental, social and fiscal conditions are different to our own. This is therefore unfair competition.

Thank you, Mr President, for having taken note of the tragic situation of the wine growers, including those from Spain, Italy, Greece and France.

  Mojca Drčar Murko (ALDE). – Mr President, on 9 February the Italian Parliament passed an act that flagrantly interferes with the sovereignty of Slovenia and Croatia. The act unilaterally concedes Italian citizenship to the descendants of the citizens of the two countries who have resided in the territories that Italy ceded to the former Yugoslavia under the provisions of the Peace Treaty of 1947 and the 1975 Treaty of Osimo. This introduces a kind of reoccupation of the territories over which Italy, as a defeated power of the Berlin-Rome Axis, definitively lost its sovereignty.

Considering the entirety of the European peace arrangement after the Second World War, the said act represents a threat to peace and security in Europe. Therefore, I wish to call upon the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, to make use of his veto and not to endorse the act.

  Pedro Guerreiro (GUE/NGL). – (PT) I should like to welcome the 30th anniversary, on 27 February, of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and in so doing to pay tribute to the Sahrawi people’s just struggle for freedom and for the right to self-determination and independence.

I should like to point out that, in its resolution of 27 October of last year, Parliament declared its support for a fair and lasting solution in Western Sahara, based on the rule of law and on international law, and in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

In spite of the major efforts, unilateral concessions and good will gestures on the part of the Polisario Front, the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, the process continues to be stymied by the intransigent attitude, to put it mildly, of the Moroccan Government, which refuses to recognise the Sahrawi people’s fundamental rights. It is therefore of pressing importance to implement immediate effective measures with the clearly stated aim of decolonising Western Sahara.

  Catherine Trautmann (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, Mittal Steel has launched a hostile TOB for Arcelor, threatening nearly 50 000 jobs in Europe. Arcelor, which was born out of the ECSC, enabled the iron and steel industry to be adapted to the new world order at the cost of unprecedented financial and human efforts, which are liable to be written off as a loss.

Although I am concerned about the social consequences in terms of protecting workers and keeping jobs, I also wonder about European industry’s ability to tackle the mergers and transformations resulting from globalisation. Over and above the national positions, however, it is undoubtedly from Europe that the steel workers are awaiting some action. This action will hinge on the implementation of an ambitious European industrial policy endowed with sufficient financial resources and based on a budget priority that is clearly focused on research and development and on innovation.

This case shows that, in the EU’s key economic areas, we must provide long-term answers and, more specifically, act as the driving force behind international regulation. European integration began with steel, and this is truly symbolic: it must be possible for European integration to continue without abandoning Arcelor and its employees.

  Georgios Karatzaferis (IND/DEM). – (EL) Mr President, two months ago we voted here on Mr Alavanos's thoughts on telephone tapping. I have something disturbing to report: for one year, the Prime Minister of Greece, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Public Order, the Chief Commissioner of Police, the Head of the Secret Services and the Head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad have been bugged. For one year they have been bugged, for one year they have been unable to discover by whom and no one knows exactly how many plans or what highly secret talks with the Members of the European Union were leaked.

I therefore wish, through Parliament, to find out the extent to which the European Union has been informed about this telephone tapping, in this instance of Vodafone mobile telephones.

Secondly, as it is so easy to tap telephones, and I refer here to the telephone of the Prime Minister of Greece, I refer here to the telephone of the Hellenic Minister of Public Health, I refer here to the telephone of the Hellenic Minister of Foreign Affairs, how sure can we be that the telephones are not being tapped here, in the European Parliament?

  Józef Pinior (PSE). – (PL) Mr President, I should like to draw attention to the fate of Anton Kuzniecov, a Russian citizen who came to Poland from Russia over 10 years ago and applied for political asylum. Mr Kuzniecov left Russia when he was called up for military service. He did so because of the persecution he had to endure on account of being a homosexual and a human rights activist. The Polish authorities are refusing to grant him political asylum and intend to deport him to Russia.

Reports by organisations committed to the defence of human rights, such as the Council of Europe, confirm that homosexuals are subjected to repression in Russia. If he is returned to Russia, Mr Kuzniecov will have to do his military service along with criminals in a penal battalion. Amnesty International believes that if this were to happen, Mr Kuzniecov’s life could be at risk, as he is a homosexual. At present, Mr Kuzniecov is subject to humiliation and persecution in Poland, and is being treated insensitively by officials. What is worse, he is liable to be immediately deported at any time.

Mr Kuzniecow wishes to start a new life in freedom where his rights will be respected. In his eyes, the European Union still stands for human rights and a dignified existence. The European Parliament cannot remain indifferent to his situation.

  Tunne Kelam (PPE-DE). – Mr President, in a few days we will decide on the fate of the Services Directive. That will be a crucial test of whether the EU is taking the Lisbon agenda at its face value, because the services sector is a main reservoir for rapid economic growth. However, today the giant of the enlarged EU is like Gulliver in Lilliput, his immense potential tied up by innumerable cords of protectionist regulations.

Our challenge is to dismantle the complex network of anti-competitive practices, which is undermining confidence in genuine European integration. Our responsibility this week is to open up the services sector to free and fair competition. The new Member States are not a threat to the EU internal market, but an asset. Therefore, compromises on the Services Directive should not serve to block the dynamics of this important change.

  Jan Tadeusz Masiel (NI). – (PL) Mr President, the way in which Islamic countries reacted to the cartoons of Mohammed in the Danish press proves that, as far as culture and civilisation are concerned, there is a very deep divide between Islamic countries and countries based on Christian principles.

Followers of Islam do not understand the difference between what is said in jest and what is real. In contrast, our culture is based on metaphors and symbols. For example, Descartes doubted for a long time that the world even existed. The misunderstanding I mentioned earlier confirms the belief that Islamic countries such as Turkey have no place in Europe. It also suggests that the Islamic world needs our help. We are prepared to provide it, but at a distance.

  Stavros Lambrinidis (PSE). – (EL) Mr President, two weeks ago in Greece the action of an extended gang of telephone call thieves was uncovered. The Greek Government was told of the problem in March 2005, but concealed it for eleven months. The political issue which has arisen is huge and also concerns the European Parliament:

First, the Greek Government does not appear to have notified the Commission or the Council about the holes in the security system in Greece, especially at a time when Europe was debating the famous directive on the retention of our sensitive telecommunications data via service providers' databases which, as it turns out, are riddled with holes.

Secondly, the Greek Government also failed to notify the other Member States, so that they could take immediate steps for the safeguarding and protecting of the data of their citizens by Vodafone and Ericsson.

Thirdly, the incident was also discovered by the independent national authority responsible for safeguarding the confidentiality of communications.

Fourthly, it also failed to notify the thieves' victims for a full 11 months, thereby exposing them to the risk of continuing violation of their confidentiality.

  Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (PPE-DE). – (EL) Mr President, the citizens and residents of the European Union have a right of petition safeguarded them under the Treaties. However, the operating rules of the Committee on Petitions are not clear and the impression is being created that selfish and/or political objectives are often pursued through the committee.

Similarly, European citizens are subject to discriminatory treatment and I shall explain how: with the excuse that there are legal proceedings pending, their cases have not led to the drafting of a report. By contrast, the Cashman report is to be presented tomorrow on a case on which a decision is pending before the Court of Justice of the European Communities and proceedings are under way before the national courts. The fact that proceedings are pending is not respected here.

Even at the eleventh hour I ask you, Mr President, to prevent the Cashman report from being adopted, not for its content, but so as not to create a precedent of intervention in the work of justice and discriminatory treatment of European citizens.

  Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE). – (IT) Mr President, I should like to draw Members’ attention to the fact that, in recent days, there have been various cases of missionaries being murdered in Burundi and the Philippines. Yesterday, in Angola, an 80-year-old missionary was murdered. Obviously, the most moving case was that of Don Andrea, an Italian missionary murdered in Trabzon, Turkey. I should like to pay tribute to this man and to his sacrifice, partly because he was caught up in a climate of tension between the Islamic world and Europe. On his behalf, I should like to call on Members to support anyone seeking to break this circle of hate, partly because I am sure that there is a large majority of men and women of good will, be they Muslims or Christians, or indeed atheists and non-believers. I should therefore like to remind Parliament, too, of Don Andrea’s message.

  Urszula Krupa (IND/DEM). – (PL) Mr President, freedom of expression in the European Union, expressed through directives and regulations, has imposed limits on the shape of bananas, the volume of milk production, and the temperature of washing-up water. It has also resulted in a free market that is only free for monopolies, media terrorism and the violence we all witnessed perpetrated by followers of Mohammed who felt insulted by certain cartoons.

The right to freedom of thought and expression as enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights cannot be interpreted as carte blanche to offend the religious sensitivities of believers, and this should apply to all religions. We Poles are well versed in Gospel truths. We know that ‘every good tree bringeth forth good fruit’ or, in other words, ‘that by their fruits ye shall know them’. We should therefore draw the appropriate conclusions from recent events, and implement the provisions laid down to protect human rights and democracy in such a way that freedom of expression does not come to mean lack of respect and lack of responsibility.

If it fails to respect ethical and moral principles, freedom will evolve into destructive lawlessness or even into a dictatorship of relativism.

  Marc Tarabella (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is truly at a crossroads. The improvement to our decision-making process has come to a halt. The most recent countries to have joined the EU are discovering a Union that is less united than it was in their predecessors’ day, as demonstrated by the stingy draft budget. The nations of Europe are worried – and rightly so – in the face of the wayward path taken by the Commission and most of the Member States’ governments, which want to introduce rules of unbridled competition among themselves. I am thinking in particular of the taxation dossier.

If we value a Europe founded on solidarity and reject one that is founded on self-interest, then, ladies and gentlemen, let us seize the opportunity to stand side by side tomorrow with the demonstrators in response to the call of the ETUC and, if possible, let us go equipped with our scarves. I call on you to do this in order to show the citizens from throughout Europe that a large number of their representatives are behind them and understand their more than legitimate concerns.

  Sarah Ludford (ALDE). – Mr President, the furore over the Danish cartoons rages in Europe and worldwide. I regret that MEPs are only going to have a restricted debate on it, but I am confident that, whatever our opinions on the publication of the cartoons, it will condemn unreservedly the violence and destruction committed because of the offence taken. But efforts to lower the temperature have been impeded by the real crimes against Muslims, not only illegal abduction and detention – as in Guantanamo Bay, which we will be debating later this week – but the assaults by occupying forces.

Most recently, a video apparently showing British troops beating up Iraqi youths was revealed yesterday. Human rights and the rule of law must be universally respected by those of all faiths and none. I disagree with my colleague over on the right. I do not believe that I live in a Christian state or Christian territory and I look forward very much to Turkey joining the European Union.

  Zita Pleštinská (PPE-DE). – (SK) The citizens of the new Member States greatly appreciated the courage of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden in opening their labour markets immediately following EU enlargement in May 2004. The report submitted by Commissioner Špidla confirms that these three countries have not been harmed by opening their labour markets and, on the contrary, that people coming from the new Member States have been taking on jobs unattractive to local workers. By doing so, they have contributed to the economic growth of these countries.

On the basis of the positive report from the European Commission, I trust that the remaining twelve Member States will follow the example set by these three countries and will lift the temporary restrictions on the free movement of workers in the labour market that apply to the new members.

I am convinced that Austria and Germany will also understand that removing the existing obstacles to the free movement of labour from the eastern countries is better than having to face the delocalisation of German and Austrian companies to the East. I am pleased that the Commission has received significant support from European social partners. Both the umbrella employers’ organisation, UNICE, and, surprisingly, the European Trade Union Confederation have spoken in favour of terminating the transitional period. Only German and Austrian trade unionists were opposed to the idea.

  Alexander Lambsdorff (ALDE). – (DE) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there is no goal to which Europe’s political forces commit themselves with greater determination than that of making our continent more competitive and thereby reducing mass unemployment. It follows that doing something for those people who have no work is a credible and respectable thing for us to do.

This week will see us voting on the Services Directive, which may well, when transposed, bring 600 000 new jobs, 100 000 of them in Germany, my own country, providing that it is adopted in the form that has emerged from the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. There is now no more than an infinitesimal prospect of this actually happening, since the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats has caved in and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament has got its way right down the line.

That has had no impact on the trade unions, who are continuing to spread untruths and panic. We expect, tomorrow, the arrival of 30 000 well-organised, well-fed and well-clothed people, who will be demonstrating against the creation of 600 000 jobs. Those who have work are fighting to keep it for themselves; that is immoral and unacceptable. It is for us to do something for those people who do not have work, for they have no leaders to bring them to Strasbourg by the busload.

  Marie-Noëlle Lienemann (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, many employees and citizens of the European Union do not understand the European Commission’s passivity in the face of the hostile TOB affecting the Arcelor group and have been deeply shocked by the remarks made by Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who does not see any need for a defence strategy for European groups. She is just happy that there are international groups in Europe.

Adopting this attitude means forgetting about our past, namely that Europe was founded on the European Coal and Steel Community. It means disregarding any notion of an industrial policy and it means believing the remarks and the commitments of Mittal Steel’s boss, which he will clearly go back on in the long term. Proof of this is the closure, in Ireland, of one of this group’s factories despite the commitments that had been made to the local authorities.

Finally, I should like to say that, in this industrial policy affair, it is clear that the Mittal Steel group is basically aiming to take the Arcelor group’s own funds, which are unquestionably the fruit of Arcelor employees’ labour; it is also seeking to pave the way for long-term relocations and is thus threatening …

(The President cut off the speaker)

  Nikolaos Sifunakis (PSE). – (EL) Mr President, I should like to refer to the recent crisis which has broken out over the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, to which other members have also referred.

We are currently experiencing and trying to clarify the limits of freedom of speech and cultural freedom of the free and theocratic world, often with the theory of the clash of cultures as a basis. I believe that there are not two conflicting worlds – and I am certain that most of my honourable friends believe likewise; I believe there is one open world in which we are forced to coexist.

This crisis has broken out at a time of mutual distrust between the West and Islam and, I fear – mainly as far as the war in Iraq is concerned – that the West is to blame. Unfortunately, public opinion in the West links the Muslim faith with terrorism. By contrast, public opinion in Islam considers that terrorism is an invention of the powerful on earth in order to intervene in the internal affairs of any country they wish.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world we live in does not belong to us. It is on loan to us from future generations. It is our responsibility to respect it.

  Eugenijus Gentvilas (ALDE). – (LT) Mr President, I have some cheerful news. In three days the state of Lithuania will celebrate its Independence Day. This is on 16 February. However, I fear that our state's national holiday will once more remain unmentioned, as it is not traditional to do so. Therefore, I propose that at least during plenary sessions and plenary sittings the national holidays of those states, which celebrate them on those particular days, should be mentioned. It would be possible to do this with various references in the session timetable; it may even be possible to indicate on this board that one state or another is celebrating its national holiday. Of course, the chair of the sitting could also let Members know that one state or another is celebrating its national holiday. This would certainly help us get to know one another and would bring the citizens of Europe closer to Europe's institutions. Thank you.

  Gerard Batten (IND/DEM). – Mr President, the British Government is proceeding with a programme of reorganisation of the English and Welsh police forces on a regional basis. The stated reason is that the existing structures cannot deal adequately with terrorism, extremism and serious and organised crime. However, the real reason is not to make them more effective, but to further the EU’s policy of regionalisation of Member States.

Where the British people have been given a choice, they have rejected regionalisation overwhelmingly. The police forces are to be given no such choice: the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, gave the 43 Chief Constables an ultimatum to produce plans for a mass merger, like it or not. The Treaty of Rome speaks of the regions, and their significance is becoming more and more apparent. Few people in Britain realise how their country is being fundamentally changed in order for it to become merely a region of a United States of Europe.

  Henri Weber (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, on 20 October 2005, the Unesco General Conference adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by 148 votes in favour to two against with four abstentions. This convention recognises the specific nature of cultural activities, goods and services that can under no circumstances be regarded as mere commodities.

Article 20 stipulates that the countries must pay heed to the convention when they subscribe to other international obligations, such as the agreements concluded in the context of the World Trade Organisation.

This convention must be ratified by 30 countries before it can enter into force. To date, Canada is the only country to have ratified it. The European Union, represented by its Commission, has played a major role in the adoption of the convention. Ought not our President, together with the chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education, write a letter to the Council and to all the Heads of State or Government urging them to ratify the convention?

  Maria Badia I Cutchet (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, I would like to draw the honourable Members’ attention to the great efforts being made to bring the institutions closer to the citizens. The Commission has just adopted the White Paper; we have a plan D — dialogue — and in this attempt to find new and better ways to communicate with each other, we cannot forget the natural means, which is the language of the European citizens.

In Spain, in addition to Castilian as the common language, the citizens’ right to use other official languages is recognised: Catalan, Basque, Galician; all of which are European languages.

In December 2004, the Spanish Government presented a proposal to the Council to authorise the use of those languages under certain conditions, without adding any cost for the Union's institutions. The Commission, the Council and the Committee on the Regions have already put this proposal into practice. In Parliament we are still waiting. It is a question of making it possible to use these languages in correspondence between the citizens and Parliament, in the publication of legislative provisions and in the speeches of Members of the European Parliament.

Mr President, this request does not imply any cost to the institution. On the contrary, it would increase the wealth of this Parliament.

(The President cut the speaker off)

  Bruno Gollnisch (NI). – (FR) Mr President, last year, the Alsace region was understandably incensed at the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Herrlisheim. Without a scrap of supporting evidence, the blame was attributed to a Front National activist, a young, honest employee of the Forestry Commission and the sole support of his mother. On the basis of a simple handwriting analysis that revealed that his noughts were slightly smaller than the other numbers, he was immediately remanded in custody. It appears that the two perpetrators of this crime have now been arrested. They have no connection whatsoever with Mr Lezeau, the innocent victim, yet neither he nor the Front National have received any apologies. The Front National clearly had nothing whatsoever to do with this act, which it finds just as disgusting as the rest of the population does. Prosecutor Schultz is responsible for a real legal scandal in Colmar.

  Véronique De Keyser (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, I returned last night from Palestine, where I met with President Abbas.

In this connection, I should like to pass on two messages to you: the first is that he will address the Palestinian Legislative Council at the end of next week and that he will adopt some extremely firm positions. He is truly determined not to accept a government that would not itself accept the peace agreements or recognise the State of Israel. We are therefore probably heading for a succession of political crises in Palestine, which could even lead in perhaps a few months’ time to elections – that is how President Abbas sees things, anyway.

The second message that he delivered to me and that he gave me the job of passing on to you – to you as well as to the European Parliament – is that he would be very pleased to accept your invitation and to take part in the March part-session. When that time comes, he will provide a detailed explanation of the situation in Palestine and of his policy framework.

  President. Mrs De Keyser, thank you for that information and your telephone call this weekend to tell me about it. We shall be very happy to receive the President of the Palestinian Authority if he can come here.

  Evangelia Tzampazi (PSE). – (EL) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, 7 February marked the seventh anniversary of the day on which five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were arrested by the Libyan authorities on charges of contaminating children in the paediatric hospital in Benghazi with the AIDS virus.

The death sentence subsequently handed down to them by the Libyan court galvanised the Bulgarian authorities and European diplomacy into action. Although the death sentence imposed on them was recently quashed by the Libyan Supreme Court, in view of a repeat trial, we can send them a message of support and, at the same time, call for the Libyan authorities to guarantee that the new trial will be held fairly and objectively.

We also need to stand by the children of Libya who were contaminated with the virus and, at the same time, to work to create the conditions needed in order for a fair solution to be found to this sad story.

  Marios Matsakis (ALDE). – Mr President, about two weeks ago an 11-year-old girl collapsed in her classroom in a school in the UK. She was later found to have taken heroin by inhalation. It was reported that she had been taking drugs for a number of months. That is not a unique case: thousands of children in Europe are thought to be taking drugs and there is growing evidence that paediatric substance abuse is increasing rapidly. Children are very vulnerable and drug addiction in schools can, if allowed to proceed unchecked, soon reach epidemic proportions. Many of us believe that the situation is already becoming extremely worrying.

Therefore, Mr President, knowing your – and most colleagues’ – sensitivities on the subject, I respectfully call upon you to request from the Commission and the Council a statement on the current situation regarding drug addiction among children and the possible need for an urgent review of the strategy as to how best to deal with this alarming problem.

  Eluned Morgan (PSE). – Mr President, there are currently 84 Lisbon directives that the European Parliament has adopted; 63 of them should have been fully implemented by all Member States; so far, only 12 have been fully implemented.

According to the latest figures published by the Commission, the directive on the common rules for the internal market in natural gas should have been implemented by 1 July 2004. The following countries have yet to notify the Commission of their legislation implementing that directive: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Ireland, Latvia and Luxembourg. Lisbon is placed in jeopardy by such lax behaviour on the part of the Member States.

Mr President, would you write to the Commission and ask them what they are doing to speed up legislation on the Gas Directive in particular?

  Georgios Toussas (GUE/NGL). – (EL) Mr President, the tragic shipwreck of the obsolete, over-maintained, 35-year-old passenger car ferry El Salam 98, which dragged thousands of passengers and seafarers to a watery grave in the Red Sea, is yet another link in the long chain of maritime crimes committed for the sake of profit.

We express our heartfelt condolences to the families of the passengers and seafarers who lost their lives for nothing. We would take this opportunity to point out that, with the reasoned opinion/ultimatum sent by the European Commission in December 2005 to the Greek Government on the application of Regulation No 3577/92, adopting the demands of the shipowners on the pretext of alleged unfair competition, basic seaworthiness and safety criteria of passenger car ferries are being abolished, such as the horsepower and registered tonnage of ships and the 30-year age limit for the withdrawal of ships, which has been adopted in our country.

We are calling on the European Commission to stop this procedure. There is an immediate need, through the International Maritime Organisation ...

(The President cut off the speaker)

  James Hugh Allister (NI). – Mr President, I wish to raise an issue of pressing importance to the farming community in my constituency. In the agricultural sector in Northern Ireland there is a high preponderance of conacre lettings, whereby an active farmer rents land for ten months each year from an inactive landowner.

Under Regulation (EC) No 782/2003 – as it is being implemented – the landowner and the active farmer cannot share the single farm payment relating to that land. That has resulted in duplicate claims for the same land by both tenant and farmer. Now both face the penalty of total non-payment. Confusion and error, rather than fraud, is the predominant cause.

The threatened withholding of the entire single farm payment is wholly disproportionate and potentially ruinous for many. I therefore call upon the Commission to sanction an approach capable of delivering a solution and securing the purpose of single farm payments, namely a fair standard of living for farmers.

  Danutė Budreikaitė (ALDE). – (LT) Ladies and gentlemen, the agreement between Germany and Russia to lay a gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea has raised many questions. It is reproached not only because of Germany's economic egoism, which tramples on the EU principle of declared solidarity and increases the threat of Russia exerting economic and political influence on EU countries. A huge threat is also posed by a legacy from the Second World War – chemical weapons that were buried at the bottom of the Baltic Sea 50 years ago. The sea’s ecosystem is threatened by 292 000 tonnes of chemical weapons. The Baltic Sea is not a lake in the German or Russian interior. Its shores are home to the citizens of another six EU states, for whom the sea is the source for making a living and for recreation. When the sea is used intensively for fishing and other economic activities, the laying of a gas pipeline and these chemical weapons become a concern for the international community. In order to avoid an ecological catastrophe in the Baltic Sea, I urge you to encourage the Commission to carry out an exhaustive investigation into the possible effects of the gas pipeline, which is viewed as a private commercial project, on the ecology of the Baltic Sea.

  Csaba Sándor Tabajdi (PSE). – (HU) The international community faces a serious challenge this year with the forthcoming negotiations concerning the status of Kosovo. The stake is huge, and the future of the region will determine the situation and European perspective of the entire West Balkan region.

It is obvious that Kosovo is lost for Serbia, not only because the Albanians, constituting the 90% majority of the population, do not want to live there, but also because this is also supported by several superpowers, including the United States of America and Great Britain. The European Union has not formulated its own position yet, although this should be considered a matter of urgency. My question is, if the international community grants Kosovo the right to break away, to become independent, why should it be given the entire region, even areas inhabited by Serbs? Why is the possibility of territorial division excluded right from the start? Why are the Albanians rewarded and the Serbs punished? If the status of Kosovo is not resolved successfully, this will result in the long-term destabilisation …

  Dariusz Rosati (PSE). – (PL) Mr President, the European Commission has tabled a report regarding the operation of restrictions on access by citizens of the new Member States to the labour market in the countries of the Fifteen. This report proves conclusively that concerns about opening up the labour market were unfounded. The scale of the influx of workers to the old countries is fairly small, and the countries that opened up their labour markets have benefited in many ways as a result.

Unfortunately, despite these clear conclusions most of the remaining Member States still wish to retain the current restrictions for several years. Why, in the light of the findings of its own report and in its role as the guardian of the Treaties, is the Commission not taking a much stronger line in pressing for discriminating restrictions on access to the labour market in the remaining Member States to be lifted? I would also like to enquire why the retention of these restrictions is condoned. Not only do they run counter to the provisions of the Treaties and the spirit of European integration, but they are also slowing down the Union’s economic growth, making it less competitive and creating the conditions for aberrations such as undeclared labour and fictitious self-employment.

I trust the Commission will make a determined effort to ensure these harmful restrictions are lifted.

  Bogusław Rogalski (IND/DEM). – (PL) Mr President, many European newspapers recently printed cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, thus mocking Islam. Its outraged followers retaliated by burning flags and attacking the embassies of European countries. In addition, an Italian priest was murdered in Trabzon in Turkey.

This escalation of hatred and violence was triggered and fuelled by the liberal left-wing media who have long been attacking religions of all kinds. In the name of a false notion of freedom, we are witnessing the desecration of faith and God, beliefs sacred to millions of individuals. The media are trumpeting religious intolerance, moral nihilism and anti-culture before our very eyes. One person’s freedom ends where another’s begins. Freedom of expression in the media must not amount to infringement of the rights and freedoms of other people. Freedom does not insult, it does not despise anyone, it does not mock, it does not demean and it does not make fun of what is holy. Freedom equals respect for the dignity, convictions and lives of other people.

We ought to bear this in mind as we stand up to the increasing deterioration of Europe’s culture. Allow me to appeal for a return to the core values of Western civilisation, in which there is no room for the religious hatred that is currently rampant in the European media.

  Jeffrey Titford (IND/DEM). – Mr President, I welcome this opportunity to register my contempt for a decision taken by a high-level group – which I presume is the Commission – to overrule the Committee on Budgetary Control and reappoint Mr Franz-Hermann Brüner as Director-General of OLAF. Mr Brüner is an immensely controversial figure and his judgement has been brought into question on many occasions. In his first term he supported witch hunts against journalists such as Hans-Martin Tillack who exposed frauds. He has also been criticised by politicians and his supervisory board, and I do not believe he has the confidence of this Parliament, the press or the public.

This also demonstrates the utter pointlessness of this Parliament and its committee system. The candidates for the post gave presentations before the Committee on Budgetary Control. We questioned them and ultimately voted for a better candidate from Sweden. Now we find that the whole time-consuming process was a meaningless charade.

  President. That concludes the one-minute speeches.