mr president the decision that we are about to take is a very important one
the socialist group is in favour of postponement for four reasons of principle
the first is the credibility and the role of our own parliament
it is very important to say from the outset what parliament can and cannot do
what it can and must do is control democratically the accounts of the council too notwithstanding the gentlemen's agreement that has been put in place
the second reason is interinstitutional equilibrium
it is important that we do not do something that we cannot do as a parliament but it is also very important to say that it is our right to have a view to have an opinion on the council's accounts when these accounts are operational and where these operational accounts must be accounted for
this is the democratic principle and this is what we are about to do
so we are not saying we want to do something else
we are saying we want to do our duty
the third reason is the respect and the preparation for the lisbon treaty
you know very well colleagues that with the lisbon treaty the common external policy acquires much more depth and much more momentum
it is a much more important common policy and we cannot from the outset say that parliament will not have a bearing on that policy at all
we must have the opportunity now to say what the role of parliament is
the last and probably the most important point is transparency vis-à-vis the citizens
our role as a parliament is accountability vis-à-vis the citizens
we cannot and we must not say to the citizens that the big common policies like the external and defence policy will lie outside the democratic control of our parliament
so for those four important reasons of principle we believe that we must vote in favour of postponement
