I have a view of Jacques Hébert as a very special fellow.

On the issue of the exploitation of water and the overexploitation of water by the settlements, I should like to refer my fellow Members to the Special Report on the Situation in the Jordan Valley by the Euromed parliamentary assembly which, itself, quotes time and again from the World Bank report entitled Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development and from the Amnesty International Troubled Waters report, and so on. These reports put exact figures on this exploitation, which is four to five times greater amongst the Israelis.

I understand why many fellow Members who have spoken have pushed for special additional efforts on issues relating to the scope of their powers (external relations etc.), but I believe that this year in particular, this mandate should be set in relation to what citizens expect of the budget, rather than what many of us expect because of special interests or other concerns.

I understand why many fellow Members who have spoken have pushed for special additional efforts on issues relating to the scope of their powers (external relations etc.), but I believe that this year in particular, this mandate should be set in relation to what citizens expect of the budget, rather than what many of us expect because of special interests or other concerns.

The European Union attaches great importance to better integration of our fellow citizens with disabilities, as illustrated by the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003, which is to be followed by the European Year of Education through Sport", said Viviane Reding the day before the opening of the Special Olympics World Games.

– (FR) Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, the Special European Council in Lisbon on employment, economic reform and social cohesion is to pursue, as you have told us, an objective which is ambitious, very ambitious, at the risk of disappointing our fellow citizens, conscious as they are that decreeing full employment and the eradication of poverty in Europe cannot, in itself, ensure that this objective is attained.