He said: “We want to ensure that a Maritime Policy puts in place a decision-making process that conciliates conflicting interests in marine and coastal areas so as to create a climate that encourages financial investments and the development of sustainable economic activities.

In this process, I have had to respond to a number of different, and sometimes contradictory, expectations; both from the political families within this Parliament and from the Member States.

22. Calls on the Commission to produce, at an early date, a systematic comparative assessment of the liberalisation of public services in terms of the effects on employment, territorial cohesion and the quality of services; points to the fact that services of general interest, particularly those which manage scarce resources or natural monopolies, have a major role to play in putting sustainable development into effect; encourages the Commission, on the basis of the Council conclusions presented at the Laeken summit, to draw up a proposal for a framework directive, based on Article 95 of the EC Treaty, on services of general interest; expects the framework directive to determine the Community principles underlying services of general int ...[+++]erest, at an appropriate level of subsidiarity, to prescribe and define the Community principles for regulating them in a democratic and transparent manner, to ensure the active involvement of citizens and users in the process of defining, evaluating and assessing their role, and to institutionalise a common, pluralist evaluation procedure;

I therefore call upon the Commission and the Council to ensure, in the management of this extremely complex process, that the balance is maintained between the regional dimension of the Pact and the bilateral Association and Stabilisation Agreements, or we may end up sending contradictory signals to these countries.

The Commission is aware that there are two potentially conflicting objectives in the enlargement process: speed and quality.

This means our decision-making process is inquisitorial and not adversarial, as in a court of law, and our decision making operates free from external influence or interference.