Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-09-Speech-3-032"
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"en.20030409.3.3-032"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner Verheugen, if, as I hope, the European Parliament today votes by a very large majority for the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, individual Members’ motives for that decision may differ to some degree, but their motives will coincide on one point, namely that with our vote we want to seize an opportunity, an historic opportunity!
I am fully aware how carefully the term ‘historic’ ought to be used. But there are situations where it would be a mistake to ignore the actual dimension of events, and we are faced today with one such situation with historic consequences. As rapporteur responsible for the Czech Republic, I have no reason to react with exuberance, let alone euphoria. The many unqualified statements by some Czech politicians in the past, statements made with an eye to the various election campaigns, have been too frustrating for that. We should be careful, though, not to deny the Czech people, a people at the heart of Europe, accession to the European Union simply because some opportunists, whose names will probably be almost forgotten in ten years’ time, have been guilty of verbal gaffes. We are left with the objection that the problem is not so much the many opportunists, both small and great, but the question of the possible continuing effect of the presidential decrees known to us as the Beneš Decrees.
So far as this point is concerned, the Czechs have taken upon themselves the obligation to comply with the Copenhagen criterion that there can be no discrimination against minorities. Should anyone in the Czech Republic nevertheless be in breach of that after European Union accession, as a community of justice the EU can and will take appropriate action.
The fact that neither government nor parliament in the Czech Republic have so far responded to our Parliament’s resolutions is disappointing and regrettable, as our group chairman has already made clear. President Vaclav Klaus’s political gesture should not, however, be played down. It is an encouraging sign that, a few weeks ago on the anniversary of the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March, the highest Czech representative expressed regret for the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans. It is a step in the right direction, which we may hope will be followed by others.
In any case, we still need patience in our dealings with one another because coming to terms with history is something on which it is hard to impose a time frame. No one should think that the Czechs are the only ones having problems in dealing with their past; the phenomenon is not only found in all the countries of the former Eastern bloc, even long standing Member States of the European Union sometimes have problems with it.
There is one thing of which we should be careful when dealing with the past. We are right to oppose collective condemnations, but are not those who do not want the Czechs in the EU simply because a few Czechs are unreasonable doing much the same thing? Someone has already pointed out today that we are not admitting governments, we are not admitting parties and groups, but we are admitting people, we are admitting nations. In this case, it is the Czech people that we are admitting, and integrating them into the European Union must and will be the key to developing a new legal culture, the European Union’s legal culture, in that country too.
If the Czechs remain outside, we will have gained nothing. First, if the Czech younger generation in particular is able to move and develop in a wider democratic environment, the wounds that doubtless still exist on all sides will close and hopefully will one day heal completely. The people in today’s Czech Republic, who cannot be held personally responsible for what happened before they were born, should and must be given the opportunity to have a part in the European community of values with equal rights and equal obligations.
Today we are holding the most important vote of this legislative period. Let us be aware of the historic implications of this vote; let us seize this opportunity by voting for the accession of the Czech Republic by a large majority. And, as a Member from Saxony, I would like to say to my neighbours:"@en1
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"Drazí přátelé, vítáme Vás srdečně."1
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