Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-061"
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"en.20041215.2.3-061"2
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"Mr President, there is something of which I would like to remind, our assembled Heads of State or Government, and that is that they are elected by the people. They were elected to represent, in a European context, the interests of their people, and thus of their nation states. They are only the first among equals, no more than that, and they bear a tremendous responsibility for our common future.
One would normally assume that these very Heads of State or Government represent the will of the people, but, right now, that clearly seems not to be the case where existential questions are concerned. Let us take my own country, the Federal Republic of Germany, as an example. There has been a new survey on the issue of Turkey. Only 15% of Germans are in favour of Turkey gaining full membership of the European Union , 60% of Germans support that special form of cooperation that we call a privileged partnership, 22% are generally against cooperation between Turkey and the European Union and only 3% expressed no opinion. In spite of this, what our Chancellor put to the Council was his own party-political opinion. He is the strongest supporter of Turkey’s accession, of this great madness. Is that right? Is it responsible? No, it is not. We see exactly the same situation in other Member States. The Council must be aware that the decision now to be taken regarding the start of accession negotiations with Turkey is not just about the further enlargement of the EU. It is an existential question for the European Union, for the political Union which is of the utmost importance for us and for the preservation of peace in the future.
After all, our history reflects the history of Europe, and shows how difficult it is to get along with all these small, headstrong European nations. History also shows us that if we expand too much now, as did so many other former empires which grew too fast, there is the danger of our overreaching ourselves and bringing about our own downfall and ruination. If our own Heads of State or Government now give Turkey a starting date for negotiations, even though the criteria have not been met, and even though we know that we cannot manage to integrate this enormous country, they will be gambling away our future. However harsh this might sound, Turkey is too big, too heterogeneous, too poor, and too populous. We must not take that step. We have expanded much in the past year and three more countries are yet to join us. We have to consolidate our position first. We have to get to grips with each other and it is the example of German reunification that shows us how difficult that task is. We have not managed it yet.
I appeal to our Heads of State or Government to be aware that they represent the will of the people, that they have to convey the will of the people to the outside world, and that the majority of the people of Europe, I am quite convinced, think: ‘Please be careful in making promises to Turkey. We cannot afford it!’"@en1
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