20. Reiterates its call for the immediate, sustained and unconditional lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip in terms of persons, the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, and for steps allowing for the reconstruction and economic recovery of this area; calls also, with due recognition of Israel's legitimate security needs, for an effective control mechanism preventing the smuggling of arms into Gaza; takes note of the decision of the Council to extend the mandate of the European Border Assistance Mission Rafah until 30 June 2013 and expects it ...[+++] to fulfil its tasks and play a decisive and effective role as regards the daily management of cross-border relations and the build-up of confidence between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; calls on Hamas to recognise the State of Israel and to give its support to the two-state solution; also calls on Hamas to put an end to the violence perpetrated both internally and externally against the State of Israel;

As the Court fully relies on the cooperation from the States Parties in order to successfully pursue the investigations, protect and relocate witnesses and apprehend the suspects, enforce sentences, it is of crucial importance that the EU Member States reply timely and adequate to its various cooperation requests, including on providing information, executing the arrest warrants or tracking, freezing and seizing assets of the suspects.

2005 has been a remarkable year for the Court and its States Parties; in March the Court received its first ever referral from the UN Security Council; in October it unsealed its first arrest warrant; and in November Mexico became the 100th State Party.

The supranational European Prosecutor proposed by the Commission, meanwhile, would lead us into an administrative black hole, since not only would we have to harmonise charges, penalties, restrictions and all kinds of procedures, such as acceptability of evidence, but we would also have to consider the issue of protecting individual freedom for all coercive acts required by the European Prosecutor: searches, seizures, telephone tapping, arrest warrants, judicial reviews and pre-trial detention, not to mention, of course, the vast issue of the democratic control that would need to be established.

In any event, it is obvious that there is a problem, since, as you are no doubt aware, I have just received a reply from the Spanish Government to let me know that the issue is very complicated, so complex that it has been referred to the Spanish Council of State to decide, once and for all, which is the competent authority to issue these requests to waive immunity.