Seventy per cent of the European internal market is accounted for by services so the need for an internal market for services is self-evident. The EPP-ED group in the European Parliament is for it. However some sectors, because of their historical background,  need special treatment such as healthcare provision and services of general public interest. These should have exemptions.

 

 

We'll have to wait and see. We’re still at first reading, and then we will try and reach a common position with the Council. There will be some differences, but I think we will be able to reach an agreement with the Council. For example, the principle of country of origin will apply but there will be some controls.

 

 

The decisive factor is that we have to tackle the challenges facing our society, for example demographic developments. We have to take these seriously, and we also have to find ways to ensure that people will want to have children. That is one precondition. Another is that we must have more flexibility in the labour market so as to improve our competitiveness. Finally, we have to ensure that in terms of public expenditure we have greater stability.

 

 

I’m convinced of it.

 

Where do you see the EU’s enlargement process – including Turkey and Croatia - in 10 years time?

 

Croatia will certainly belong to the EU by 2015. In 2015 we will still be debating Turkey’s accession and whether we go for membership or for a partnership with the EU. I believe in open-ended negotiations, with the possibility that a privileged partnership could also be the outcome of these negotiations. So far as the Balkan countries are concerned, they must gradually be introduced into the EU. One day, all Balkan countries will definitely be members of the European Union, but it will be a long-term process.

 

 

I'm not afraid of that, but clearly we must bring the public along with us on the issue of enlargement. On Turkey, it will be very difficult to get a Yes vote in a referendum in France. It’s an expression of concern that the European Union shouldn’t over-extend itself.

 

 

We should honour the principle set out in the EU’s constitutional treaty. The treaty contains no direct mention of electing the Commission President. If we were to demand this we would open up the whole constitution and make it even more difficult to have it ratified. My own view is that the constitutional treaty should come into force as soon as possible.

 

 

The advice that I have given is that the national political parties that make up the EPP-ED group should select a candidate for the position of Commission President. If the other major political group were to do the same, we would have a real competition over who to elect as Commission President.

 

 

We MEPs should always have a leading role and not only on human rights. Of course we shouldn’t subordinate human dignity and law-based processes to commercial interests; so we should always ensure that human rights are in the forefront. We should therefore not be silent when there are massive violations of human rights in China, Cuba or Chechnya.

 

 

On China, for example, we in the European Parliament were against the lifting of the arms embargo on the basis of human rights. That shows that the European Parliament has played a responsible role. On Russia it is clear that the European Parliament doesn’t see current democratic developments in Russia as positive, so we must raise our voices in concern in a moderate way.

 

 

It’s in the interests of the EU to have strong economic and trade exchanges with China, but that doesn't mean we should close our eyes to human rights violations there. Nor should we be silent about the poor working conditions of hundreds of thousands of people, or the fact that because of the death penalty more people are executed in China than in the rest of the world put together. This is something we can’t accept, and in discussions with our Chinese partners we should always emphasise this.