Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-19-Speech-2-110"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021119.2.2-110"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, it does not need to be repeated that this is an historic day, for this House at any rate. My group, too, sees the enlargement of the European Union as an historic opportunity, and a large majority of us will be endorsing Mr Brok's report. It is not entirely clear to me why you, Mr Haarder, like Mrs Malmström just now, spoke in terms of reunification. What is apparent to me from a reading of European history is that this continent has never actually been united. What is now underway is made all the greater an achievement by the fact that it involves uniting this continent for the very first time.
I do not want to sound too discordant a note, but I do at least want to mention three problematic aspects that lead me to be somewhat dissatisfied with the report, despite the general approval it enjoys. For a start, I find it regrettable that nearly all the amendments relating to the great social and employment problems engendered in the candidate countries by enlargement and the processes of transformation have been rejected. Too little attention is paid to these issues even in practical policy-making.
Secondly, my group continues to be dissatisfied with the way in which, in contrast to earlier accessions to the EU, there is no full guarantee that the new Member States and their citizens will enjoy equal rights from the word go. I know, Commissioner, that you have done a great deal for the public at large, but the egoism of a number of governments has prevented essential work from being done. I am well aware of the difficulties involved, but I find it rather problematic when legal and financial discrimination are not prevented from the very outset in a process of enlargement described as an historic task.
Thirdly, we regret the fact that proposals for further efforts in border regions have not been incorporated in the report. It is my belief that the governments responsible in particular, and quite possibly also the Commission, are doing too little in these regions to give real support as extensive changes take effect. The possibility cannot at present be excluded that at least some of these regions will become more like enlargement's transit zones. Quite apart from the practicalities of the problem, I therefore again call on the Commission and the governments to do everything possible to make what are at present border regions workshops for European integration and enable them to experience its positive effects on people and society, as the former border regions such as for example the Saarland, Lorraine, and Luxembourg so emphatically did."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples