Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-19-Speech-2-092"
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"en.20021119.2.2-092"2
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".
Mr President, as rapporteur for Estonia, I find myself thinking back to that remarkable day nine and a half years ago, when I arrived in Estonia for the first time. Even then, there was tangible evidence of a firm intention of clearing away the past, looking forward, uniting the people's own abilities with the possibilities of modern technology and bringing about an unparalleled modernisation of the economy and the administration.
It is true that the drastic economic measures brought social hardship in their wake, but such things may also be observed in other countries. It appears to me, however, that Estonia's economic structure has in the meantime become healthier than in many other candidate countries. This increases the possibilities for now giving greater attention to society's social cohesion.
Although I have already started on the problem areas, I would very much like to recall what Commissioner Verheugen said, that we have to show a bit of generosity now that we have reached the final negotiation stage. I wish to put this in specific terms by saying that the European Union is not going to be flooded by such things as Estonian milk, which, if it goes anywhere, will end up seeping away into Finland.
We have seen, though, how, for ten years, the Estonians left their agriculture to the mercies of world market conditions. If we had done that in the European Union, we would surely show particular concern for those who survived such drastic treatment. Nothing less than that, I believe, should we show to the Estonians where this is concerned. So please let there be some generosity towards this sector in Estonia!
There are other problems in such areas as the extraction of oil-shale, where structural problems are added to environmental ones, and the curious thing is that it is in this sector that the minority are particularly heavily represented. There too, I believe, we in the European Union have to take some share in investment. But, all in all, I want to say to our Estonian friends: ‘Tere tulemast ja kõike head, kallit söbrad eestist!’
In my role as deputy chairman of the delegation for the EU's relations with Lithuania, I would like to make the brief observation that, when we had our JPC meeting there last week, we had extensive discussions of why we were not very happy about the possible practical effects of the agreement on Kaliningrad. We fear that the Lithuanian authorities in particular, but also travellers themselves, will have to put up with a certain number of things being technically inadequate or impracticable, and we hope that it may be possible to find even better solutions."@en1
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