Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-23-Speech-3-031"
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"en.20021023.1.3-031"2
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"Mr President, now that Mrs Maij-Weggen has made it clear that the Dutch Christian Democrats are no longer the problem, and now that it is also clear from what you have said that the Liberals are not either, the only people who seem to be left hitching a free ride and imposing special conditions are the German Social Democrats and the German Federal Government. I think, though, that we ought to make clear that, whatever else we might rightly or wrongly desire, no new conditions for the enlargement of the European Union must be allowed to be imposed. That has to be made clear and – as you, Commissioner Verheugen, know better than any of us – those things that were neglected when negotiating Agenda 2000 cannot now be put right again a quarter of a year before Copenhagen. We will have to do that at a later date. Now that Saturday's events make it possible for us to get back to discussing Nice's critical aspects, it is right and proper that we make it clear that, in structural policy for example, the Convention must accept majority decisions, thus giving us better decision-making structures for the reforms in 2006, and enabling us to implement the necessary reforms at the right point in time. The actual content of that can of course be prepared by the Commission and in the debates, but here too, we have to do the necessary homework if we are to make progress in 2006.
Let me briefly address the Kaliningrad question, which, I believe, encompasses some of the political issues that remain to be dealt with. We have to take account both of Lithuania's sovereignty and Russian sensitivities and make clear that big countries cannot ride roughshod over small ones when they engage in negotiations. Part of our picture of Europe is, after all, that small countries have a value of their own. It is evident that any solution here has to be practicable and makes allowances for everyone's sensitivities, and I believe that what the Commission has presented and yesterday's decision by the Council of Ministers provide a basis for negotiations, one on which we can proceed. I take the view that, in today's battle order, the Commission and the Council are indeed doing their best to achieve a result in October.
Allow me a final comment. Information work and information campaigns will be of great importance, both in the Member States and in the candidate countries. I hope they will be better organised in the latter than they currently are in the former; in my own country, they involve little more than putting the Federal States' ministers for Europe on display, and have little relevance to the actual work of informing people. Perhaps, Commissioner Verheugen, we could at some time discuss how we can change this."@en1
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