Strasbourg, 03/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the presentation by the Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to the programme of the Belgian Presidency before the European Parliament, most of the political groups have already expressed the confidence they have in the new EU Presidency. During its traditional press conference, on Tuesday in Strasbourg, the President of the EPP-ED group, Hans-Gert Pottering (CDU), underlined that Belgium has always assumed the Presidency of the Union by bringing its support to the Community methods and by ensuring respect for the general interest. We have a great confidence and a great hope, he said before reaffirming what his groups awaits from the Laeken Summit, i.e. that it adopts an open method with a convention to the next institutional reform. The governments has set the bar very high, noted the Belgian Christian Democrat Marianne Thyssen (CVP) by indicating that her delegation would be taking part in the works in a constructive manner, even if we are in the opposition. Europe is far too precious to have internal battles, she added, while asserting that it is necessary to avoid changing the European Parliament into a Belgian football field. The Spanish President of the Socialist Group, Enrique Baron told the journalists that the Belgian Presidency arrives at a decisive moment in the life of the Union and, noting that the Benelux memorandum talks of an enclosure and not a convention, he said that the word is not very important, but what matters its that there is an open, wide and complete debate. Also underlining that the Belgian Presidency will be judged in the light of the results with regards to the organisation of the next institutional reforms, the foreign policy and defence-security as well as the financing of economic and social cohesion. While welcoming the ambitious nature of the Belgian programme, the French President of the United Left group, Francis Wurtz, exclaimed: Too many priorities kill priorities, and he felt that the Belgian Presidency, as the Swedish Presidency, has not truly taken stock of the disenchantment of public opinion. Mr Wurtz welcomed the intention of the Finance Minister, Didier Reynders, to pose the question of the Tobin tax during the informal Ecofin Council next September, but he regretted that this intention be attached to a commentary indicating that the Presidency feels that this tax would only be viable if it is applied in the three major monetary areas. The Finnish President of the Greens/European Free Alliance, Heidi Haulata, welcomed the importance granted by the Belgian Presidency to the economic and social aspects and underlined that the dossier of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be of the responsibility of the Ecologist Minister Olivier Deleuze. The Belgian Green Pierre Jonckheer said that it is good that the Belgian Presidency is ambitious, but that it is necessary for it not to loose sight of the need to work with the fourteen partners. Mr Jonckheer also welcomed the decision, on a joint initiative by the Transport Minister Isabelle Durant (Ecolo) and the Environment Minister Magda Aelvoet (Agalev), to organise an informal meeting of transport and environment ministers, while hoping that this will allow to change the transport policy.