European Parliament
Fatuzzo (PPE-DE ).
(IT)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, permit me first of all to congratulate you on your Presidency. In particular, I notice that your English is perfect. Next, I shall explain why I voted in favour of the Samuelson report, which establishes the European Agency for Reconstruction.
A few days ago, I was in Venice, at the theatre of La Fenice, at a performance of the opera
La Traviata
, with my dear colleague, Mr Karl von Wogau. Near us in the audience there sat a very old lady from Serbia, and I asked her how I should vote on this report, which provides among other things for the reconstruction of Serbia. She answered, ‘You must vote for it, of course. It is a good thing to reconstruct what was destroyed in our country by Communism and by Milosević, but you who have a Prime Minister, Mr Berlusconi, who has even reconstructed his face, could you also reconstruct the faces of us old people, as that would give us so much pleasure?’

