– Mr President, it seems to me that, whenever a religion of any kind gains absolute power anywhere in the world, it is just as brutal and intolerant as any secular dictatorship.

However I would also like to make it clear, and this is why we are in the centre, that we also do not entirely agree with the feeling that we sometimes get that the rapporteur — although subsequently he was generous in accepting amendments from other groups — does not really have, or at times may not have had sufficient sensitivity to assess what the general interest means, to understand that not everything is subject to the rules of the market, to understand that the Member States do of course have to have and retain the freedom to protect certain services outside of the pure market, in a regulated form or by providing them solely throu ...[+++]gh the public sector.

– Madam President, I think I can be forgiven for thinking I had stumbled across a Hollywood Oscar nomination ceremony a little bit earlier on: everybody congratulating each other, slapping each other on the back, absolutely marvellous!

This impression is reinforced also by information sent to the Commission by a plaintiff, who has pointed out that the measure would not at all be in the general interest of the wine sector.

This visit was planned many months ago. We deliberately chose a date after the referendum precisely because I did not want my visit in any way to be seen as an attempt to influence the internal Irish debate on Nice.

Mrs. Bjerregaard said that the Commission and Parliament "do need to act together to correct the impression that the Union is seen as being less active than it ought to be on the environment and sustainable development.