In relation to the general issue of agriculture, again, our Prime Minister addressed that in the course of his remarks today, namely that we believe it is necessary to have a pathway forward, in terms of reform, that recognises the kind of future challenges that the European Union will face in the course of the coming Financial Perspective.

Wishing to have a coherent approach at European level in the field of R D performing SMEs and to act effectively, several Member States have taken the initiative within the framework of Eureka to set up a joint research and development programme entitled ‘Eurostars’ (hereinafter referred to as the Eurostars Joint Programme) for the benefit of R D performing SMEs, in order to obtain a critical mass in terms of management and financial resources and the combination of additional expertise and resources available in various countries across Europe.

The way ahead in terms of technical interoperability is clear, but we must acknowledge the contribution of the third package in its proposal for a directive on the certification of train crews, contained in the Savary report; only by training the staff can we make the system interoperable, even before it becomes technically interoperable.

– (DE) Mr President, the Middle East continues to be without equal as a crisis hotspot after the USA presented Iraq as its model example of how to democratise and liberalise the Islamic world, and as a way of, so to speak, solving all problems with a single stroke.

Such plans might identify measures to be taken at national, regional and local level and subsequently monitor their success both in terms of improving energy efficiency and their cost-effectiveness.

We are trying to follow the terms of the Treaty and to do so only when it is helpful to the overall implementation of a common foreign and security policy.