Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-04-Speech-2-162"
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"en.20010904.7.2-162"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, enlargement is the greatest challenge that the European political project has ever faced. It is, however, not an end in itself, but a means towards political, economic, cultural and civilisational ends. Enlargement must mean more and better Europe and not less Europe, even if it increases in area and territory. Enlargement must be supported and well received by national public opinion. Public opinion in many countries is favourable towards enlargement for reasons other than simple economic calculations and national self-interest. These countries hope that enlargement will strengthen Europe and will be fair and, unless this happens, they will feel cheated. For example, and if we take account of the opinion polls, the Portuguese are clearly more in favour of enlargement than – irony of ironies! – the Belgians, the French and the Germans. Why should this be the case? It is because the Portuguese have benefited from the support of the European Union at a crucial time in their recent history and feel that other Europeans share this right. These very Portuguese citizens would not have the same attitude, however, if they were afraid that enlargement might weaken the European project and harm Europe’s internal cohesion. I am delighted at the orderly, methodical and smooth course of the negotiations, but the hard core of the trickiest dossiers has still not been broached. Some Members have recommended today, in this part-session, that the ten applicant countries should join the European Union by 2004. I think this is too soon. We must not delay the process of accession through expedient measures, neither should we rush things. We must respect the pace of each applicant country.
In the 1930s, the celebrated French writer Paul Valéry, coined the famous phrase, which said, and I quote, that civilisations are now aware of their mortality. He also pointed out that Europe’s greatest weakness was its inability to form a political entity with powers that are both solid and legitimate. This is the problem. I hope that enlargement contributes to establishing this legitimate and strong entity and not the opposite."@en1
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