The European Parliament resolution, which endeavours to influence the future strategy on the inclusion of the Roma, offers better protection for fundamental rights, as well as increased EU funding.

5. Considers that such an instrument should be based on the Lex Generalis principle of prescribing general provisions which would be overridden should special legislation exist at national or Community level and provided that it ensures a higher level of legal protection;

This increased level of EU-level funding cannot be a substitute for any other public or private sector funding.

Fourthly, Mr President, I feel that this is a good outcome for Parliament, because we have managed to achieve most of what we had been fighting for, of which I should like to highlight the following: Community management of the central system, under the democratic control of the European Parliament and the legal control of the Court of Justice (the creation of a Community agency within five years, established in codecision with Parliament, is provided for); the fact that there is greater harmonisation of alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS), whereby entry into the Schengen area can be refused (the Commission is invited to sub ...[+++]mit initiatives, within three years, aimed at achieving higher levels of harmonisation); the fact that European Arrest Warrants are stored in the SIS central system; the fact that we are using biometric data as a research field only after the drafting of a report to be submitted to Parliament on which Parliament will have its say; the fact that we have clearly strengthened the rules on data protection and the rights of individuals in relation to the system, the fact that the supervision system has been strengthened at both European and national level; and the obligation to draw up reports in order to increase transparency regarding the overall functioning of the system.