MINUTES

(2005/C 85 E/01)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SITTING

IN THE CHAIR: Pat COX

President

1.   Resumption of session

The sitting opened at 18.05.

2.   Formal opening of the first sitting of the enlarged European Parliament

The President made a statement welcoming the 162 new Members of Parliament from the ten new Member States.

Loyola de Palacio (Vice-President of the Commission) and Günther Verheugen (Member of the Commission) made statements.

The following spoke: Hans-Gert Poettering, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, and Enrique Barón Crespo, on behalf of the PSE Group.

3.   Official welcome

On behalf of Parliament, the President welcomed Gyula Horn, former Hungarian Prime Minister, to the official gallery.

4.   Formal opening of the first sitting of the enlarged European Parliament (continuation)

The following spoke: Eörsi Mátyás, on behalf of the ELDR Group, Francis Wurtz, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, Monica Frassoni, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Michał Tomasz Kamiński, on behalf of the UEN Group, Jens-Peter Bonde, on behalf of the EDD Group, Marie-Françoise Garaud, Non-attached Member, and Elmar Brok (chairman of the AFET Committee), the latter drawing particular attention to the work done by the various rapporteurs on the acceding countries (Jürgen Schröder, Jacques F. Poos, Michael Gahler, Luís Queiró, Elisabeth Schroedter, Ioannis Souladakis, Ursula Stenzel, Jas Gawronski, Demetrio Volcic, Jan Marinus Wiersma, Mrs Hoff and Mrs Carlsson, and Claudio Martelli).

5.   Membership of Parliament

The list of the 162 Members of the European Parliament from the ten new Member States appointed on 1 May 2004 is published as an annex to these Minutes.

The President drew attention to the provisions of Rule 7(5).

6.   Membership of committees

The list of requests for appointments to committees submitted by the political groups is annexed to these Minutes.

These appointments will be deemed to have been ratified if no objections are raised before the approval of these Minutes.

7.   Approval of Minutes of previous sitting

The following spoke: Evelyne Gebhardt, who called for the deletion in Item 13 ‘Corrections to votes’ of the Minutes of 21 April of the corrections to votes made by Hans-Peter Martin to the van Hulten report (A5-0218/2004) since, she claimed, he had not been present during the vote on that report, Hans-Peter Martin, who disputed her affirmations (the President decided that account would not be taken of these corrections to votes), John Walls Cushnahan, who referred to the earlier accusations of fraud and supported the remarks by Evelyne Gebhardt, and Hans-Peter Martin, who stood by his remarks (the President drew attention to the provisions governing corrections to votes and confirmed his decision on that basis).

The Minutes of the previous sitting were approved.

8.   Calendar of part-sessions

The Conference of Presidents had decided, pursuant to Rule 10(4), to put back the sittings of 29 and 30 September to 13 and 14 October 2004, to give Parliament time to hold the hearings of nominee Commissioners with a view to approving their appointment in time for 1 November 2004.

9.   Budget timetable (deadlines for tabling)

In agreement with the BUDG Committee, the following deadlines had been set for the tabling of draft amendments and proposed modifications to the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2005:

10.   Documents received

The following documents had been received:

Written declarations for entry in the Register (Rule 51)

11.   Petitions

The following petitions, which had been entered in the register on the dates shown below, had been forwarded to the committee responsible, pursuant to Rule 174(5):

26 April 2004

by Mr Louis Groenendal (No 299/2004);

by Mr Alexander Braun (No 300/2004);

by BFT Tankstelle Ostermeier (No 301/2004);

by Mr Ingo Heinroth (No 302/2004);

by Mr Hans-Jörg Mutschall (No 303/2004);

by Mr Christian Schulz (No 304/2004);

by Mr Hermann Prechtl (No 305/2004);

by Mr Christian Scheuring (No 306/2004);

by Mr Horst Gitz (No 307/2004);

by Mrs Inge Ouled Larbi (No 308/2004);

by Mr Sven Lohse (No 309/2004);

by Mrs Patricia Ann Corsgreen (No 310/2004);

by Mrs Jean Mullan (No 311/2004);

by Mr Joseph Pierre (No 312/2004);

by Mr Kevin Edwards (No 313/2004);

by Mr John Mouat (Kimo International) (No 314/2004);

by Mr Evangelos Rigos (Hellenic Electronic Center) (No 315/2004);

by Mr John Searson (No 316/2004);

by Mrs Eileen North (No 317/2004);

by Mrs Sheila Arslanian (No 318/2004);

by Mr Fabio Lorizzo (No 319/2004);

by Mr John Bradley (No 320/2004);

by Mrs Jane Curnock (No 321/2004);

by Mr Adrian O'Donnell (No 322/2004);

by Mr Leslie Tannette (No 323/2004);

by Mr Jarlath Molloy (No 324/2004);

by Mr Ian Ross (No 325/2004);

by Mr Louis Rutter (No 326/2004);

by Mr Frank Laufer (No 327/2004);

28 April 2004

by Mr Patrizio La Pietra (No 328/2004);

by Mr Charalambos Psarros (No 329/2004);

by Mr Konstantinos Anastassiadis (Paratheristikos Ikodomikos Syneterismos Stegaseos Ypallilon Trapezis Tis Ellados) (No 330/2004);

by Mr Luis Otero Aira (No 331/2004);

by Mr Óscar Retegi Herrero (No 332/2004);

by Mr José Lozano Sánchez (No 333/2004);

by Mr José Antonio Méndez Pinedo (No 334/2004);

by Mr Enrique Martín Sanz (No 335/2004);

by Mr Thibaut Lepine (No 336/2004);

by Mr Bernard Daull (No 337/2004);

by Mr Henri Villain (No 338/2004);

by Mrs Sylvie Darasse-Said (No 339/2004);

by Mr Claude Coste (Association contre les Inondations Défense de l'Eau et de l'Environnement) (No 340/2004);

by Mr Aldric Seveno (No 341/2004);

by Mrs Cécile You (No 342/2004);

by Mrs Brigitte Verhauwaert (No 343/2004);

by Mrs Cristina Aguiar (Grupo de Profesionales Dominicanos en Francia por la Legalidad Democrática y el Estado de Derecho) (No 344/2004);

by Mr Roberto Massa (No 345/2004);

by Mrs Kaita Soldini (No 346/2004);

by Mrs Anna Di Matteo (No 347/2004);

by Mr Ugo Agamennone (No 348/2004);

by Mr Gennaro Cadoni (No 349/2004);

by Mrs Jasmin Spinelli (No 350/2004);

by Mr Gianluigi Fadini (No 351/2004);

by Bill Newton Dunn and Elizabeth Lynne (and 11 000 signatures) (No 352/2004).

12.   Written declarations (Rule 51)

In accordance with Rule 51(5), written declaration No 4/2004 lapsed as it had not obtained the required number of signatures.

13.   Texts of agreements forwarded by the Council

The Council had forwarded certified true copies of the following documents:

14.   Action taken on Parliament's positions and resolutions

The Commission communication on the action taken on the positions and resolutions adopted by Parliament at the January I and January II 2004 part-sessions had been distributed.

15.   Order of business

The next item was the order of business.

The final draft agenda for the May 2004 sittings (PE 344.780/PDOJ) had been distributed and the following changes had been proposed (Rule 111):

Sittings of 3 to 5 May 2004

Council request for the application of urgent procedure (Rule 112) for:

Proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of an Agreement between the European Community and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of PNR data by Air Carriers to the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COM(2004) 190 — C5-0162/2004 — 2004/0064(CNS))

Rapporteur: Johanna L. A. Boogerd-Quaak (A5-0271/2004)

Reason for request:

The campaign against terrorism was a major priority for the Union, and it was therefore necessary to dispel any uncertainty among both air carriers and passengers.

Parliament would decide on the request for urgent procedure the following day at 13.00.

The order of business was thus established.

***

The following spoke: Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg, on behalf of the Verts /ALE Group, who expressed surprise at the inclusion on the agenda of the vote on the above request for urgent procedure, since Parliament had decided at the sitting of 21 April 2004(Minutes of 21.04.2004, Item 8.2) to seek the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on the proposal for a Council decision concluding the agreement and on its compatibility with the Treaties (the President replied that the Council was nevertheless entitled to ask for urgent procedure), Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ELDR Group, who pointed out that for that vote the composition of Parliament would not be the same as during the previous part-session, and asked for formal advice on the matter, and Johanna L.A. Boogerd-Quaak, who asked to be allowed to speak, in her capacity as rapporteur, before the vote on the request for urgent procedure (the President replied that the floor would be given to one speaker in favour, one speaker against, and the rapporteur, and that a decision on procedure would then be taken; he added that he would seek a formal legal opinion on the question raised by Sarah Ludford).

16.   Agenda for next sitting

The President referred Members to the document ‘Agenda’ PE 344.780/OJMA.

17.   Closure of sitting

The sitting closed at 19.10.