Strasbourg/Brussels, 13/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the day before the debate the European Parliament is expected to have on Wednesday on “ the Declaration of Berlin” and which the president of the Council, Commission and EP will adopt on 25 March at the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the leaders of the main political groups informed the press what they expected from this declaration. Martin Schulz (PES), said that the EU needed “profound reform” to help it act in the future. He also said that the need for reforms should already be included in the Declaration of Berlin, which should itself prepare for the constitutional debate. With regard to the Polish demand to include a reference to Christian roots in Europe in the declaration, (EUROPE 9383), Schulz warned the president of the EP, Hans-Gert Pöttering, to not allow himself get dragged into such a debate. “Mr Pöttering would be ill-advised if he added to the debate on the Christian roots or Christian heritage of Europe. This would be counter-productive… He is a Catholic but [as president of the EP] he should have a neutral attitude in respect of secular tradition”. Mr Schulz concluded that, “We have to keep the formula adopted by consensus in the preamble of the Constitutional Treaty”. Joseph Daul (EPP-ED) underlined that the Declaration of Berlin had to, “demonstrate the benefits of a political and united Europe”. The EPP will adopt its own declaration on 24 March, on the eve of the informal meeting of Heads of State and Governments of the EU in Berlin. Daul explained that, “We will reaffirm our support there for a political and united Europe, for NATO, European values, the Euro, the single market and our closeness to citizens, as well as for Europe's place in globalisation and its position on the world stage”. Graham Watson (ALDE), the leader of the ALDE group criticised the German presidency' secrecy surrounding the text. He informed the press that it was incredible that tomorrow they would be speaking about a dummy declaration. He declared that if the Declaration was two pages long (as indicated by the German presidency) it would be a page too long. He affirmed that they needed a very short declaration and that citizens had to understand Europe. He also asserted that they needed a declaration in which Heads of State and Governments emphasised that our security and our high living standards were a result of European cooperation. Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens) stated, “the declaration of Berlin is the black box, the secret…Secrecy increases expectations. We are sceptical and think that we will have an extremely banal text”. He believes it is obvious that the declaration should mention the Euro. Cohn-Bendit also thinks that they should “set a date for ending the debate on the future of the Constitutional Treaty but that four or five Member States are blocking it”. (eh/hb)