– having regard to the Action Plan of 4 February 2004 and to the Action Plan to follow up on the Decision on the International Criminal Court of 12 July 2011,

It is not for me to comment on the candidates for the Presidency of the European Council but, as Commission President and looking at the institutional matters, I very much hope that Heads of State or Government will select the personality that can provide effective leadership to the European Council – a President with a strong European commitment that can give consistency over time to European Council activity, both internally, so that priorities can be set over a longer timeframe and not just for six months, and externally, so that on common foreign and security policy, we send coherent messages to our international partners.

Buildings policy continues to give the Court of Auditors plenty to think about, whether it be the extension to the seat of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg or the Council and Parliament buildings in Brussels.

Single housing should only occur if there is justification on veterinary or welfare grounds. Single housing on experimental grounds should be determined in consultation with the animal technician and with the competent person charged with advisory duties in relation to the well-being of the animals.

What priority is the Council giving in this European Year of Equal Opportunities for All to addressing urgently the EU's main human rights crisis, which is the discrimination, harassment and violence suffered by its 8 million Roma citizens (and double that in wider Europe), including an alarming increase in forced evictions and a torrent of abuse and prejudice?

24. Welcomes the Council's continued support for the establishment of a strong, forceful and effective UN Human Rights Council, with the following essential characteristics: it must be a standing body with a sufficient number of sessions of adequate length to enable it to properly perform its mandate, it must be capable of responding to urgent situations, the system of Special Procedures must be retained and the Committee of NGOs should be reformed so as to permit a strong level of independent NGO participation; asks the Council to continue to take action to set standards for membership of the new UN Human Rights Council, including election procedures, involving direct and individual votes by an absolute majority of members, which seek to ...[+++]guarantee the credibility and efficacy of the future body; in this regard, is concerned that countries with a poor human rights record have been elected as members of the UN Human Rights Council, and therefore stresses the importance of establishing a universal "peer review" with the task of examining the human rights situation in all countries and monitoring the implementation of international conventions and standards; regrets that during the latter months of 2005 EU Member States appear to have been out-manoeuvred in the negotiations by a small group of UN members composed of countries which themselves have suspect human rights records; nevertheless welcomes the final agreement secured in New York and looks forward to a strong and effective EU representation in the agreed UN Human Rights Council;