Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-22-Speech-3-085"
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"en.20050622.13.3-085"2
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"I too should like to start with a few words of thanks. I should like to thank the Luxembourg presidency for its work, which has been both highly professional and of first-rate quality. I should also like to thank the President-in-Office of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker. Although he comes from a small country, Mr Juncker is a great statesman and a great politician, and he has demonstrated quite clearly that small and medium-sized countries can also play a large role in Europe. In order to do so, they must remain true to the ideas that underpinned the gradual construction of Europe after the Second World War. I refer to such ideas as Europeanism, solidarity and the placing of European interests before individual, and often selfish, national interests. It is my belief that Jean-Claude Juncker will always serve as a fine example, in particular for the new Member States, or in other words the small and medium-sized countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
I should also like to congratulate the Luxembourg presidency on the solution which it put forward to the problems surrounding ratification of the European Constitution, and which enables those Member States that so desire to continue the ratification process. I believe that the people of Luxembourg will vote ‘yes’ in the referendum to be held on 10 July. I hope that politicians in other countries, including my own country, the Czech Republic, will be equally courageous and allow their citizens to take part in referenda.
I should like to raise one final issue that has not yet been touched upon, namely EU enlargement. Accession treaties were signed with Bulgaria and Romania during the Luxembourg presidency. In common with the majority of Members of this House, I supported this move, and despite the events in France and the Netherlands, I still believe that it was absolutely the right one. Regardless of the problems we are facing, we should not ignore the fact that the unification of Europe is in the interests of Europe as a whole, and in the interests of our history. Last year’s enlargement demonstrated that the problem does not lie with the new Member States, since they are acting with the utmost responsibility, whether with regard to ratification of the Constitution or to last weekend’s summit. I believe that Romania and Bulgaria will act equally responsibly after they join in 2007 or 2008."@en1
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