Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-08-Speech-3-201"
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"en.20050608.17.3-201"2
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"Mr President, we are seeing real improvements in the climate of cooperation between Europe and America, which is good news for those of us in Europe who are friends of America. One can only hope that the good news will continue.
There are further hurdles to overcome, however. One of the most significant obstacles we are currently facing is the restrictions on entry into the United States imposed on the citizens of certain EU Member States, or in other words visa restrictions. Many people in Europe regard practices of this kind as discriminatory, not least because they amount to unequal treatment of EU Member States. This view is particularly widespread among the public in countries such as my own, Poland, and the other Central European countries whose citizens continue to need visas to enter the United States.
I would also remind the House that the changes we recently made to the reciprocity mechanism mean that the EU’s visa policy is coordinated at Community level. It is now the Commission, and not the Member States or the Council, which takes the decision to impose sanctions on a third country. It is therefore also the Commission’s duty to ensure that all citizens and all EU Member States enjoy equal rights. I hope that this issue will be raised during the forthcoming summit.
The second issue I should like to address is the need for cooperation between the European Union and the United States in support of democracy and human rights, in particular in the post-Soviet space. Europe and America must speak with one voice on this issue, as they did during the Orange Revolution or when Dr Condoleezza Rice and Mr Solana made their recent declaration on support for the Belarussian opposition. Words are not enough, however, and what is needed is joint action. It is an unfortunate fact that Europe is lagging behind America in this respect. We are less flexible than the Americans and too slow and bureaucratic in the way we take action. This is particularly true in the case of the Commission.
I believe that our attention should be focused on ensuring that the European Union and America speak with one voice and take joint action on issues relating to the promotion of democracy and human rights."@en1
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