Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-046"
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"en.20041215.2.3-046"2
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"Mr President, there can be no doubt that the Council summit of 17 December will go down as a memorable date in the history of the construction of Europe. I should, however, like to tell the President-in-Office of the Council that our fellow citizens are concerned about these future enlargements, and above all about the continuing lack of responses to the crucial question of where Europe’s borders lie. We are of course in favour of Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession to the EU, although these countries still need assisting in their efforts, and we are also in favour of Croatia’s accession, as it will send a strong signal to the Balkans.
Yet the situation is entirely different with regard to Turkey, a country which does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus, a Member State of the European Union which it has occupied for 30 years. Turkey punishes anyone who refers to the Armenian genocide, and 97% of its territory is outside Europe, which means that it has no right to join the European Union. This is why we hope that the Council will agree to the idea of a privileged partnership put forward by France. Turkey’s integration into the EU would be tantamount to rejecting a political Europe straightaway, before it has even come into being, and to perpetuating the image of a Europe subject to blackmail and pressure. Would this be a sensible course of action?
Moving on to another, equally important, issue, I welcomed Mr Barroso’s hard-hitting remarks on the EU’s Financial Perspective. Nevertheless, I remain concerned with regard to Europe’s future. Without the necessary resources, the EU cannot seek to strengthen social cohesion or to support competitiveness, employment, research and environmental policy, and it will also be unable to give due consideration to the ageing of the population – in other words to adhere to the Lisbon strategy – or to continue the fight against terrorism, drugs and crime. If we continue to operate with outmoded budgets, we will be unable to confront the challenges which await us, for example the explosive growth in Chinese competition.
The Council should therefore abandon its calls for a European budget set at 1%, as otherwise Europe will no longer be able to guarantee the funding of its regional policy, which is close to the hearts of EU citizens. We expect the Council to take into account the priorities I mentioned previously, and then to allocate the resources necessary to achieve our goals. We should not forget that Europe cannot be built without the contribution of every individual and every European citizen. Europe should export its values to the rest of the world, but it should also respect the men and women who enable it to exist. Unfortunately, I fear that the decisions taken on 17 December will be incomprehensible to many of our fellow citizens."@en1
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