18/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Briefly presenting his report on the proposal for a joint Council/Parliament/Commission declaration on EU development policy in Strasbourg on Thursday evening, “Le consensus européen”, to be discussed at Monday's Council (see other article, Anders Wijkman (EPP-ED, Sweden) placed emphasis on the specific role of the Commission. He said it is not the 26th country of the Union and has its own competence, neutrality and specific capacity. During the debate, Development Commissioner Louis Michel above all considered that it was unacceptable for the Union, whose diplomatic force is made up of over 20,000 ambassadors, three times that of the United States, should rank second when it comes to influencing political decision-makers. Furthermore, when questioned by Marcin Libicki (UEN, Poland) and Bernd Posselt (CSU) on reproductive health, Mr Michel replied that, in this debate, “You mainly see abortion whereas I mainly see health and women and children's rights. I respect the philosophical and religious views of others but I believe that sometimes one should go beyond them to look at the general interest (…). Some forms of archaic conservatism do not seem generous (…). In such a matter, the same applies to individual freedom and happiness”. In the debate, several MEPs said that the generally positive approach of the Parliament on the proposal for a joint declaration in no way prejudges its position on the final text of the declaration.