Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-13-Speech-1-124"
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"en.20041213.10.1-124"2
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"Mr President, I agree that we must do everything to stabilise regions neighbouring on ourselves, but I do not agree with the way in which Turkish membership is intended to be turned into a reality. We no doubt agree that one of the conditions of a democracy is that everyone must be able to participate in the decision-making. That also applies to the present Member States which have, for example, linguistic minorities that together constitute 10% of the EU’s population.
If the Member States’ seats in the European Parliament are reduced in number without guarantees being given that Europe’s genuine diversity will be reflected in Parliament’s composition, the minorities will be excluded from Parliament as a result of Turkey’s becoming a member. Europe is a cultural and linguistic mosaic that has also given rise to tensions and bloodshed. It would therefore be unwise to go in for a solution that did not reflect Europe’s genuine diversity.
All EU citizens need to feel welcome in an EU whose power is increasing every day. It would be unfortunate if, for example, the Balkan states, as future Members, were only to be represented by the largest ethnic group. The representation of minorities at EU level is of great importance for reducing tensions. Because the report takes no account of this aspect, I cannot vote in favour of it. I want a Europe for all EU citizens and not just for a portion of them, no matter how great the historic decisions we face."@en1
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