Chairman, what can we do? As I was listening to the hon Hajaig's presentation about the many trade agreements, the image of a castle of cards came to mind, a castle of cards that is going to be blown away by worldwide, ever-increasing, seemingly unstoppable financial crises, which, as the hon Koornhof was pointing out, are affecting us and will affect us in an ever-increasing manner.
I don't know how it will all play out, but I do have a sense of the type of world that will emerge. It will be a world with poor countries and rich countries. President Obama told us a few days ago of his formula to keep America rich. He spoke about a knowledge-based society - a society that makes a living out of its capability to produce ever-increasing innovation, new ideas, new products and new technologies.
Where do we stand? The hon Hajaig spoke about trade with respect to food products and commodities. Africa is constantly being relegated to being the commodity source for the world. That is not where we want to be. We must rise to the challenge of becoming a knowledge-based society, but for that we need ideas. We need leadership, of which, unfortunately, not enough is being provided in this House, and it will surely not come from this debate.
Our relationship with the European Union ...