Strasbourg, 16/12/2005 (Agence Europe) -On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted, by an extremely slight majority (255 in favour, 251 against and 32 abstentions) a resolution presented by the EPP-ED, ALDE and UEN groups on the working programme of the European Commission in 2006. The Parliament sent out "a strong signal to the European Commission, by proposing genuine concrete actions for 2006", said the vice president of the EPP-ED group, Françoise Grossetête, accusing the Socialist, Greens and United Left groups of "sectarianism", for having left the negotiating table on the joint text. "Just as Europe is in crisis, we need to get together to fulfil the expectations of the Europeans and to face up to a counter-innovative European Commission and an increasingly cautious Council of ministers", said Ms Grossetête. The resolution, which lays emphasis on employment, research, solidarity, the family, the fight against illegal immigration and terrorism, points out that in 2006, over 40 multi-annual programmes must be concluded if they are to start at the beginning of 2007. The Parliament therefore calls upon the Commission to do all in its power to allow the necessary legislative procedures to be brought to fruition.
Furthermore, the plenary approved an amendment calling on the Commission to begin a "reflection on the external borders of the EU, taking account of the absorption capacity" of the Union.