Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-03-Speech-2-143"
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"en.20001003.4.2-143"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as a member of parliament from Brandenburg, an East-German
allow me to stress at this point how proud I am to act as spokesman for my committee in this debate. You might say that I represent a region which, ten years ago, represented a good part of enlargement to the east – I too lived on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
On balance, our conclusion is this: the candidate countries have already gone part of the way. The EU must continue to give them permanent support and must not neglect its own duties as regards structural change, including that of the institutions.
Allow me also to say at this point that I have a great deal of respect for the citizens of the central and eastern European countries who, ten years ago, had the courage to go into the streets and start this process. They deserve my thanks, as of course do the Member States of the European Union at the time and the Commission and Parliament, for the solidarity which they have always demonstrated with our regions.
I am speaking on behalf of the Industry Committee – to abbreviate its full title – on the areas of industry, external trade, research and energy. This is a broad political field which includes highly explosive smaller issues and covering this broad spectrum for the twelve different candidate countries from central Europe, Malta and Cyprus was a huge challenge. Allow me to comment on a few focal points.
Industrial change in the industrial sector is already in the final stage, although it remains on the agenda and needs to be implemented more intensively. This change places heavy demands on the people in the candidate countries but, at the same time, it guarantees their future and their children’s future. The economic changeover is not for the EU’s sake, a point which needs stressing. The competitiveness of their own country is at stake, irrespective of whether or not they join the EU.
Three points need highlighting in the industrial sector. First: industrial structures must continue to be adapted at least as quickly as hitherto. Secondly: there must be guaranteed improvements to and simplification of the legal framework for market access and financing. Stability fosters economic success. Thirdly: supplementary measures, such as training people, social protection and hence social stability, and an active job market policy are also extremely important.
In the trade sector it must be stressed that a national trade policy is incompatible with EU-membership. It is vital for trade policy between the EU and candidate countries to be coordinated pending accession and this is being done to an increasing extent. A few comments on new technologies: these countries too are moving from an industrial to an information society. This process runs in parallel to enlargement. If we are to have a common information area, we must make huge joint efforts in this sector. The information society is important to old as well as new sectors. The public sector should set an example in the central and eastern European and in the other candidate countries. Research must be strengthened overall, especially in new technological sectors, and it is vital for these countries to be included in the European networks.
Allow me to make one more comment on the energy sector, which has already been addressed once today. Energy generation and distribution must continue to be made more efficient, while complying with environmental standards. The whole European energy market will change on accession. The energy mix will no longer be the same.
A sensitive area has already been addressed today. I refer to nuclear energy. The most important aspect is compliance with current safety standards and the agreed closure of unmodernised plants. I too should like to stress on behalf of my committee that I am not in favour of linking accession dates to closures. They are two separate issues. However much some people wish it did, diversifying out of atomic energy does not form part of the Community
. Hence, if we are to be honest, we cannot keep setting up new hurdles in these areas. The process of change and the momentum of this process of change will cause structural adjustment difficulties on both sides.
Particular attention – and here I agree with the previous speaker – needs to be paid to border regions. Although there are excellent medium-term prospects for the border regions within the European Union, huge adjustment difficulties will need to be overcome in the short term. We already have experience of both from enlargement to Spain and Portugal. We – the Member States first, but also the EU – have a duty to provide suitable support for border regions."@en1
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