Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-13-Speech-2-199"
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"en.20011113.10.2-199"2
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, enlargement has been a top priority for this Commission from the very beginning of its mandate. From the point of view of Europe’s powers and responsibilities, its potential and goals, enlargement is the real acid test. It is also Europe’s historic duty.
Once the conditions set by Parliament and the European Council have been complied with, and once the necessary ratification procedures are complete, these countries will be in a position to join the European Union before the June 2004 elections and thus elect representatives to this House for the next Parliamentary term. Therefore, next year will be decisive for the enlargement process and for the future of Europe. Negotiations will be tackling sensitive issues like agriculture, the Structural Funds and the budget and, in these negotiations, we will show the same determination to find constructive answers that we have shown in the past. From the beginning of the year onwards, the Commission will be putting forward proposals based on the current
and on the principles adopted at the Berlin European Council.
Much will depend on the continued efforts of the candidate countries to adopt and implement the
. As the Commission stresses in its Regular Reports this year, the candidate countries will also need to develop the necessary administrative capacity to be able to apply the Union’s rules and policies properly.
However, sustained efforts on behalf of the candidate countries are only one side of the coin. In order for enlargement to be a success, it will be important to strengthen the Community method and sustain the necessary cooperation between the Council, Parliament and the Commission. 2002 will be a year of intense reviewing and monitoring and I know I can count on Parliament to scrutinise this work closely.
I would also urge the Member States to continue to respect their existing commitments regarding enlargement, particularly those contained in Agenda 2000 and the Financial Perspective for up to 2006, as agreed by the Berlin European Council in 1999.
We cannot make further reforms a pre-condition for enlargement, although the responsibilities which we are taking on with enlargement must prompt us to begin preparing, with considerable momentum and political vision, the new institutional process due to be launched at the Laeken European Council. Similarly, the current negotiations should not be linked to the issue of the Union’s finances after 2006, these are separate issues. Any attempt to relate them would mean changing the rules and would inevitably ultimately disrupt our carefully balanced negotiation process.
The reports we are presenting to you also look at the implications of enlargement for the candidate countries’ neighbours, that is other European countries, and for the Mediterranean.
The terrorist attacks of 11 September against the US have completely changed the international situation. It is now less stable, less predictable and more frightening. Now, more than ever, the world needs a strong Europe which is sure of its values, which sows stability, predictability, security and prosperity around it, and which is, at last, a leading power on the international stage.
With enlargement, Europe’s position as the world’s leading economy and trading power, with an internal market of 500 million consumers, will be confirmed. With this situation established, we will be in a position to extend the area of stability and prosperity which we so need beyond the Union and the candidate countries. If we are to achieve this, we will need a new ‘neighbourhood policy’, and this is one of this Commission’s strategic goals.
As I have long maintained, and as I confirmed yesterday at the College of Europe in Bruges, we need to move beyond and expand the range of instruments available to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the partnerships with Russia and Ukraine, and our stability efforts in the Balkans. The fundamental intention is to extend liberalisation of trade, the technical standards and the laws governing our internal market to all our neighbours. The form that the appropriate agreements should take – free-trade agreements or agreements modelled on the European Economic Area agreement – will have to be determined through negotiations, but the essential objective will be to consolidate mutual economic presence.
Our central aim is to build a partnership with our neighbours that is as close as possible and which can become an anchor for stability and security. Basically, what we need to do is ‘export’ stability, and lay the foundations for balanced development in all areas bordering on the Union, drawing on the main strengths of European integration. This will make integration of our closest neighbours, the countries of the Western Balkans, easier when the time comes.
Enlargement – the unification of this continent – brings to a close a chapter in Europe’s history and lays the foundations for the future. Through this process, the Union is preparing to shoulder responsibilities as a continent and we therefore need to take a closer look at our resources, policies and goals, at global level. Our commitment and courage must match the commitment and courage which the candidate countries are showing as they prepare to join the Union.
In our efforts, we must not, of course, neglect the importance of the cultural dimension of our partnership. This is why we are working on a new initiative to encourage dialogue and mutual understanding between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean.
I am grateful for Parliament’s past and present support and constructive attitude towards the enlargement process. I am counting on Parliament’s continued support during this sensitive, final phase of the negotiations. The work of the Members of this House will be crucial, not just in terms of ratification as such, but also, more generally, in terms of encouraging support for enlargement among Europe’s citizens. Opinion polls indicate that, in many parts of the Union, many citizens still need to be convinced of the overall benefits of enlargement. The Commission will, of course, continue and intensify its information strategy, but it is Parliament and its Members that can make the greatest, most effective contribution to building up the necessary democratic support for enlargement.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the continuous involvement of this House in the enlargement process remains crucial, and not least in terms of
the debate on Europe’s future, a debate to which the candidate countries and future Member States are expected to make a substantial contribution.
The report presented by the Commission today shows that the beginning of a new European era is just a few steps away. Let us take these steps together and continue and intensify our cooperation in the months to come, and thus lay the foundations for a larger, stronger, completely democratic Union.
Since the beginning of my mandate as President of the Commission, nothing has made a deeper impression on me than my trips to the candidate countries, my meetings with their citizens and the representatives of their governments, or my contact with their parliaments, bravely working day and night on the arduous task of bringing their societies safely through the transition consisting mainly of preparations for enlargement. In recognition of their efforts, I would like to send them a message of thanks and good wishes from the European Parliament here in Strasbourg.
There you are: these are countries which, barely ten years ago, were literally cut off from the Europe in which we live. Since then, they have been restoring contact with our shared values. Even before being formally admitted as new Member States, the candidate countries are starting to reap the benefits of their integration. In practice, they are already part of our area of stability and development, as is shown by the ever-increasing presence in the candidate countries of companies from the Member States.
We have already seen extraordinary progress along the road to accession. The reports we are presenting to you today analyse as precisely as possible the countries’ preparation efforts. Here, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Commissioner Verheugen and his colleagues for their huge, unprecedented efforts, in terms of both quality and quantity, in instigating and experimenting with a truly remarkable methodology, and if we should prove to have failed at any time, it is because we really were stepping out in the dark.
In short, our reports show that this historic moment really is possible and just around the corner, but only if we are able to keep up this sustained pace.
Without going into the details of the reports, which Commissioner Verheugen will be describing in a few moments, I can tell you that progress has been made in virtually all the chapters making up the accession process.
I think I can safely say that this remarkable progress has been greatly inspired by Nice, where, a year ago, we set out the practical stages and the ‘roadmap’, as we termed it, for the final stage of this path to enlargement.
One year from now, we will evaluate, together with Parliament, the ability of each of the candidate countries to assume the rights and responsibilities which are part and parcel of its integration into the Union. We realise that, when that time comes, we will have to have concluded, or, at least, very nearly concluded the negotiations with the countries which have met the criteria laid down."@en1
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