Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-100"
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"en.20030326.6.3-100"2
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"Mr President, in the course of the last few months I have had the privilege, on a number of occasions, to declare to this Parliament that the Group of the Party of European Socialists strongly supports the accession of 10 new Member States to the EU on 1 May 2004. Over the past few weeks our group has actively supported all the preparatory work to enable the European Parliament to give its assent to the accession treaties with all of the ten future Member States. We sincerely want the official signature of the Accession Treaty to take place on 16 April in Athens.
On every occasion I have emphasised the importance of this enlargement process for the further development of the EU and its contribution to the strengthening of democratic structures. It may, therefore, come as something of a surprise to people that today I have to declare that a delay in the final stages of the enlargement process cannot be completely excluded. This is not because we do not want these countries to enter, it is not because we are dissatisfied with the negotiations, and it is most certainly not because we have found some bureaucratic institutional or technical arguments to reconsider our previous commitments to the enlargement process.
The European Parliament's rights of decision on the budget, including the long-term financial perspectives, are among its most fundamental rights. A limitation of those rights by a sole decision of the European Council must be regarded as a serious attempt to limit the democratic foundations and the democratic functioning of the European Union.
The Council's decision to include, as part of the treaties – for the first time ever – the negotiation results in the final aspects of accession must be considered as a serious limitation of Parliament's budget rights.
Our colleagues in the future Member States must be aware that this attempt to limit one of Parliament's most fundamental rights is unacceptable, particularly at the moment when the European Convention is considering a further democratisation of European institutions.
We consider it as a joint objective. For those who are already Members, as well as for those who soon will become Members, Parliament's rights will be strengthened as a result of the enlargement process and not weakened. Not only do we care about Parliament having those rights, but we believe Parliament should be able to use those rights. That is why we believe that the financial framework resulting from the negotiations must be considered as a minimum amount, not a maximum amount.
Our group does not want to block enlargement. We do not want to delay enlargement. We have a joint objective to make a success of this process. Strengthening, not weakening the European Parliament's rights must be part of that success. We are convinced that the future MEPs from the new Member States will support our demands.
I am sure that the Council will find a solution to this unnecessary conflict, but it must fully respect Parliament's budget rights so that we can ensure that the final stage in the enlargement process will proceed without any delays."@en1
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