Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-12-Speech-3-200"
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"en.20020612.5.3-200"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is beyond question: there is no doubt as to the historic necessity of enlargement. It is coming, that is a fact, and it is good that it is. But it will not be a tragedy if we fail to stick precisely to 2004 as the accession date. It is the quality of the process that is crucial, not the tempo. The project’s success must be assured. The report has many merits. But I wish it had shown more political courage and been open about the problems we face. I will mention two examples.
Firstly, there are no definite plans in place for financing enlargement beyond 2006. I think the practical constraints method is a dubious strategy. The public needs to know what to expect. They have a right to know. This is not an intellectually specious argument, Commissioner.
Secondly, at the heart of it, the dispute about the Beneš decrees is about the 1946 amnesty law. We cannot allow history to be misused as an obstacle to enlargement. But the amnesty law legitimises expulsion as an instrument of conflict resolution and expressly exempts crimes from punishment. That is contrary to the ethical foundations of the EU, the principles of the European community of values and the Copenhagen criteria. The Balkan conflict was about precisely the same thing: ethical and ethnic cleansing. Anyone who plays down this conflict of values does Europe a disservice. Right and wrong are indivisible and non-negotiable, whether in the past, in the present or in the future."@en1
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