Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-16-Speech-4-016"
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"en.20000316.1.4-016"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, we are about to vote on one more step down a new road, begun in mid-1995, when, like anything new, it met with quite a lot of criticism and quite a lot of reluctance.
Fortunately, that criticism and reluctance is now a thing of the past; unfortunately, however, we still hear some reservations, like those voiced in Parliament just now.
I think we need to realise that what we are doing is actually forestalling the fears expressed here, with an agreement which, in this case, is purely about trade. So we are forestalling these fears about Europe losing ground in Mexico against the exporting power of the United States. What is more, this agreement means we are also strengthening the country’s democratisation process.
As a result of that 500 year-old meeting of civilisations, Mexico is a country culturally and politically bound to Europe. But politically and geo-politically, the fundamental weight has essentially lain with the United States, its powerful neighbour to the North. And until these agreements start to bite, the hegemony of the United States in terms of economics, trade and investment will remain virtually absolute.
But Mexico has also made great progress on human rights. It has been granted permanent observer status at the OECD and in 1999 it reformed its constitution to grant autonomy to its National Commission on Human Rights
So, for both economic and political reasons, we urge approval of this agreement."@en1
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