Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-21-Speech-3-033"
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"en.19990721.3.3-033"2
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"(FR) Mr President-in-Office of the Council, the German Presidency has had to assert itself within a particularly dramatic context.
The first six months of this year have demonstrated, once more, the need for European integration on the one hand and the need to continue the process of enlargement on the other. With regard to the latter, the war in Kosovo reminds us of the wisdom of the Copenhagen criteria which stipulate, amongst other things, respect for human rights on the part of all applicant countries as a precondition for their accession to the European Union.
The Cologne European Council, which unquestionably confirmed this double ambition, shows us the enormity of the task still to be undertaken and the additional efforts which are required in this area. The European Council meeting in Cologne, despite all the efforts of the Presidency-in-Office of the Council – to which I would like to pay particular tribute – still nevertheless raises some major questions. I would like to highlight two of them.
The first relates to point 53 of the conclusions of the Presidency-in-Office of the Council, and I would like to ask the German Foreign minister how we should interpret the mandate of the Intergovernmental Conference and particularly – and I quote – the possible use of qualified majority voting in the Council – end of quote – in view of the declaration of Belgium, France and Italy, annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam. I would like to ask you whether these three Member States who, in Amsterdam, made the reinforcement of the institutions an essential condition, and therefore a prerequisite, for the conclusion of preliminary accession negotiations, still maintain the reservations annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, or whether they have moderated their position in the meantime.
My second question concerns the common security policy, particularly with regard to defence. In my opinion, any European Union defence policy will overlook the basic problem for as long as the Member States do not accept the indivisible nature of security in the territory of the European Union. We are still not there. To this end, I would like to ask Minister Fischer if he envisages, apart from the conclusions of Cologne, a short or medium-term perspective on allowing accession to those countries which have not signed up to Article 5 of the amended Treaty of Brussels, that is, the mutual assistance clause which binds countries which are currently Members of the Western European Union. I believe that the subsequent and essential stages will depend on this question if we want to realise the contents of the provisions of Chapter J IV of the Treaty of Maastricht."@en1
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"Goerens (ELDR)"1
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