Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-18-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20021218.3.3-011"2
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President Cox, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I stand before this House for the last time this year. A year that started with the successful launch of the euro and concludes with another giant step forward. We have used a lot of superlatives – too many – in the last 12 months to describe the different stages of this year, which has been the year of Europe. I am not overstating the case, however, when I say that the Copenhagen European Summit is a landmark in European integration.
The debate on where Europe's borders lie is a debate about our identity. It must be conducted in this House and in the national parliaments and must involve all the European citizens closely. This search for the roots of our identity does not mean creating divisions. Indeed, European integration must provide benefits and new prospects for our neighbours as well, even if they are to remain just neighbours. We need to build a strong network of relations based on shared political and economic values with neighbouring countries, from Russia to the Mediterranean.
This is the new strategic objective of my Commission. This proximity policy must bring our neighbours many of the benefits of membership without them having to join the Union formally in the foreseeable future. The European Economic Area is a useful model for such relations, but it needs to be enhanced by a series of measures to develop political cooperation. Our relations must be based on ‘sharing everything but institutions’. Our proximity policy must be attractive, unlocking new prospects and bringing mutual benefits. It must motivate our partners to cooperate more closely with the Union and it must be dynamic and based on a structured, step-by-step approach.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have successfully concluded the accession negotiations and we now have to make European unification a tangible, everyday reality. At last, final drafting of the Accession Treaty, which – as Prime Minister Rasmussen said – must be ratified and signed in Athens next April, can now proceed. However, our biggest job in the coming months will be to inform and reassure our citizens in both the present Member States and the accession countries. The Commission will be mounting an extensive information campaign in which the Members of this House will play a crucial role. Indeed, just a few years ago, many of the candidate countries were governed by dictatorships. Many of their citizens fear they might be giving up their new-found freedom and independence by joining another large bloc. There is concern in the current Member States, on the other hand, about the costs and implications of the entry of countries much poorer than themselves. Most of these fears are groundless. As Günter Verheugen has said, this is the best prepared enlargement in the history of the Union. We are all quite aware that the cost of enlargement is nothing compared with the cost of non-enlargement. We must therefore disseminate these simple truths throughout Europe and we must work together to make the citizens aware of them.
The enlargement process has progressed thanks to tremendous determination, political courage and vision. We have to convince the Europeans that by coming together we will all gain, and not just materially, through shared prosperity and sustainable development in the largest market in the world, but politically too, as citizens of a democratic, accountable Union.
The credibility of the new, enlarged Europe will, as I have said before, hang, above all, on the credibility of its institutions and its credibility as an active leader on the world stage. I therefore warmly welcome the EU-NATO agreement concluded at the Summit, which will enable us to conduct military peace-keeping operations in the Balkans from as early as next year. This is a further responsibility which we will have to, which we will be able to shoulder.
The moment of truth, however, in the coming year will be institutional reform. We will not be able to make good our promises to our citizens unless we completely overhaul the Union’s structure. Only by strengthening the Union’s decision-making process can we build the more cohesive, united Union that will earn their respect and admiration. We must therefore all work together with Mr Giscard d’Estaing to make the Convention a success.
This greater unity and determination must be reflected in our action on the world stage. Our growing responsibilities will leave no room for the vacillation and inaction we have displayed in the past. The task of the Convention and of all those contributing to its work is therefore just as important as the accession negotiations, for if the Convention does not succeed we will have created a Europe which is large but unable to act.
Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, there are therefore grounds for optimism. The success of Copenhagen and the generosity displayed there – we had expected egoism and breaking away but what we found there was a sense of unity in countries for which enlargement has a different meaning, is something different, is being experienced in a different way, but which have all understood the magnitude of what has happened – have shown that, if we can overcome the obstacles still facing us, we will genuinely be able to put to good use the blend of vision and pragmatism that have made the European Union a unique model of political integration.
Lastly, President Cox, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you and extend to you my very best wishes for the forthcoming festivities. I hope that you all enjoy a very well-deserved, happy, peaceful break with your loved ones.
When I took office, I pledged that enlargement would be my Commission’s top priority. We have delivered. Some people might – and do – have the impression that the conclusion of the accession negotiations at Copenhagen was a formality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Courage and political will were required on all sides to achieve this result. I should like to single out the tremendous work done by the Danish Presidency. As the multiple negotiations went down to the wire, the Presidency maintained a steady hand at the helm and a cool head in a difficult situation. Prime Minister, this was a great personal achievement on your part.
At the same time, this result is the fruit of our hard work too. Over the past three years, the Commission has put together 12 remarkable teams of negotiators who have achieved a deal on 31 chapters with each candidate country using a completely new methodology. Indeed, for over three years, 350 Commission officials and over 700 people in the Commission delegations have been patiently weaving the fabric of this silent tapestry. I want to voice here my gratitude to Günter Verheugen, who has proved to be an astute, passionate negotiator. I would also like to thank Mr Eneko Landaburu and all of the Directorate-General for Enlargement for their dedication and first-rate work. It is a unique privilege to be President of the Commission on such occasions, and today I am particularly proud to be the head of an institution that has contributed so much to the accomplishment of our dream of ‘One Europe’.
Although ten countries have completed the last lap, others still have some way to go. Romania and Bulgaria have been given detailed road maps to reach their target accession date of 2007. In December 2004 we have a date with Turkey to see if it meets the conditions for opening negotiations.
I was heartened by the fact that the first joint act of the 25 current and acceding Member States was to issue a statement in support of the ‘continuous, inclusive and irreversible enlargement process’. These words echo the vision and generosity that marked the founding of our Union. The statement endorsed the Commission’s proposal to give Romania and Bulgaria more help in preparing for membership by raising their pre-accession aid by 20%. I urge these countries to seize this chance to further speed up their preparations.
Turkey will also be receiving an enhanced package to help it prepare its candidacy, a candidacy which, I stress, will be judged on its own merits and according to the same criteria as all the other candidate countries. This date will give Turkey time to push ahead with the reforms it needs to make to satisfy the Copenhagen criteria and implement them both in law and in practice. The Commission’s reports and recommendations will continue to be completely objective and impartial.
Last week’s European Council achieved practically all its objectives. I say ‘almost all’ because we came very close to achieving agreement on the Cyprus question. Despite the fervent efforts of the negotiators and the United Nations Secretary-General, we did not achieve a solution which we can consider to be definitive at Copenhagen. Nevertheless, both sides expressed willingness to continue with the negotiations and set themselves the goal of achieving an agreement by 28 February.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as Europe grows its responsibilities grow. We are inviting the new Members to join our area of peace, prosperity and stability, but our work in promoting these values does not stop at the borders of the European Union. We must not use the aim of ‘One Europe’ as an excuse to erect fresh barriers but to embrace the entire continent in our work to establish lasting peace. Each enlargement brings us new neighbours which are drawn to the European Union as to a magnet and some hope to become candidates themselves too. In my opinion, the countries of the western Balkans belong by definition in the European Union and this view was confirmed by the Copenhagen Council. The Stabilisation and Association Process is a powerful instrument and we must use it vigorously. The Commission is therefore looking forward to working closely with the Greek Presidency in the run-up to the Thessaloniki Summit, at which, I am convinced, we can offer a detailed, practical response to the letter that the five Presidents of the Western Balkans sent us on the eve of the Copenhagen Council.
We shall now have to think long and hard about where the borders of the EU are and will ultimately lie – this is the major task before us and I shall say so
but this is something we as Europeans shall decide ourselves, after listening to everyone but without any outside interference."@en1
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