Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-13-Speech-3-048"
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"en.20041013.3.3-048"2
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"Mr President, the European Commission under Romano Prodi’s leadership is finishing its term. It is true that during the term in office of this particular Commission the largest EU enlargement was carried out successfully and my homeland, Lithuania, became a fully-fledged member of the European Union. It is most likely that in the near future the name of Romano Prodi will be in the textbooks of Lithuanian children.
Nevertheless, I would like to make a few comments about one of the Commission’s responsibilities: external relations, and especially the European neighbourhood policy, mentioned by Mr Prodi today. This policy, which is of the greatest importance, seeks not just to extend the borders of the EU, but also to extend the area of peace and stability in Europe. It is a fact that sometimes our neighbours are countries with a highly developed bureaucracy and controlled democracy. Sometimes these are countries where human rights are undermined and violated every day, for example Belarus. The European Parliament resolution on EU-Russia policy states that this policy is far from adequate: objectives are not clearly defined, there is a lack of internal coherence, interests and values are not effectively promoted.
If one looks at the figures on financial assistance for strengthening democracy in Belarus and guaranteeing civil and human rights, comparing the United States of America and the EU one might question whether Belarus is on the eastern border of the United States or the EU. I would add Moldova to this list, given that so far there is no EU permanent representation in that country. Only six EU Member States have embassies there, in comparison to the presence of EU representatives in many countries that are quite a distance from the EU and are not very important players at all.
I wish to finish by saying that I sincerely hope that the Lisbon Strategy, with all the high expectations placed in it, will not become an unfinished European project, as have some promising strategies in the past. I wish the Members of the Commission well."@en1
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