To be checked against delivery

President, I take the floor now to do three things.

First, I move the adoption of Chapter 5 of the Strategy and Action Plan and introduce the special debate on the Constitutional Treaty.

Second, I move the emergency statement on the Charter of Fundamental Rights circulated last night and call for a demonstration to coincide with the Summit in June in Brussels.

Third, I move the Seville Manifesto which has been circulated today. It is in fact the same text that was circulated to you in advance of Congress as ’Towards the Seville Manifesto’. I take each in turn.

First Chapter 5. This is a wide ranging chapter covering the case for a stronger European Union with fundamental democratic, human and trade union rights, good relations with its neighbours in the other Europe, that area east of the European Union, and also the countries to the South and in the rest of the world.

The Chapter covers the important trade agenda where Europe acts for all the individual countries and where there is always a delicate balance to be struck between defending our own industries and at the same time promoting development in the poorer regions of the world.

It covers too the need for Europe to act as a force for peace and multilateral order in a world which is very dangerous, scarved by the deep conflicts in Iraq, in Africa and in Israel/Palestine, a world too threatened by nuclear escalation and terrorism and the rise of new, sometimes unstable powers. And a world where poverty and disease ranges over vast areas of Africa, Latin America and Asia. Individual European countries – all of them – are limited in what they can do on their own. Europe currently is limited by its internal stresses rivalries and tensions.

This is a key reason why we have supported the EU Constitutional Treaty – the most social treaty of any so far in the EU. A treaty which includes in full, the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a binding obligation on member states, emphasis on social dialogue, on trade union rights like the right to negotiate and take collective action. A Charter which gave us openings to match the growing power of the financial capitalism which respects no national borders.

As I said frequently in the French Referendum campaign, there was no Plan B if the Constitutional Treaty was rejected, just a period of crisis as leaders scrambled around searching for a Plan.

After the ’no’votes in France and the Netherlands, and a concern in some other countries like the UK that there would be a no vote if the Constitutional Treaty was put to a referendum, that is where we are – in a crisis where there was no Plan B, could not be a Plan B, and where is it is now very difficult to find a way forward.

The most likely plan to be tabled by the German Presidency at the summit in June is for some kind of slimmed down treaty that could be adopted in France and Britain in particular, perhaps the Netherlands too, without a referendum.

And we know that these are strong moves to drop the Charter of Fundamental Rights from the text, or, at least, relegate its importance to a subsidiary annex with the same ambigous legal standing as it has now – applying to the EU institutions but not to member states.

We cannot accept that and, in the emergency statement, we call for the full inclusion of the Charter in any text – no ifs, no buts, the full inclusion.

And we propose to go on the offensive to achieve that. We have already written to you urging you to contact your Governments to let them know our views. Now we are planning a demonstration in Brussels to coincide with the Summit in June. Preliminary details have already been discussed with our ever supportive Belgian affiliates, and with unions in some neighboring countries, and we invite all affiliates to send delegations. Details of the date and event will follow shortly. A very important occasion in all our agendas.

And, finally, President, I move the Seville Manifesto. This is a summary of all our key decisions this week. It is written in general terms and is compatible with all the deals on text which have been negotiated this week.

The original text was English and I understand that there are some problems with both the French and German texts which we will iron out next week. But I am asking you to adopt the manifesto today to tell the people of Europe that we are on the offensive, where we are on the offensive and where we plan to make a difference over the next 4 years.

President, I move the adoption of Chapter 5 and the secretariat’s recommendations.

I move the adoption of the emergency statement on Fundamental Rights.

I move the Seville Manifesto.

Thank you