Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-157"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030114.5.2-157"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, taking the helm of the European Union for six months is a major challenge for any country, and that is true, Mr Simitis, of your Greek Presidency as well.
The five priorities that you have enumerated and set yourself are, politically speaking, not merely a matter of logic but also of necessity. The list does not sound particularly sensational, but, as you will already have gathered from the speeches here in the European Parliament, a number of these topics carry within themselves the seeds of potential tensions, both within the European Union and beyond its borders.
The smouldering Iraq crisis, along with America's continuing deployment of troops in this region and the divergent views on this emanating from London, Berlin and Paris, demand sensitive handling. What I would ask the Greek Presidency in this regard is what measures they contemplate taking in order to perhaps get the EU to have a single line on this issue.
My second question has to do with enlargement, and, in particular, with your strategy in relation to Turkey. In Copenhagen, Turkey was given a specific date, and the prospect of the commencement of accession negotiations, subject to its fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria by that deadline. This is a considerable obstacle to surmount, and it is at present far from clear that Turkey will be able to meet these conditions. Quite apart from that, I believe that it is wrong to be always offering Turkey only an either/or choice and not the option of a privileged special relationship, a perhaps far more rewarding prospect, and one that has already been addressed in a report by Mr Brok. The question I have in this context relates to Greek strategy towards Turkey.
There is a third point, and this is something to which I would like to give favourable mention. Your declaration of belief, in the chapter on energy policy, in the establishment of common rules on nuclear safety is something that I very much welcome. Do you think this has a real chance of being more widely accepted in the Council?"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples