Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-467"
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"en.20050706.35.3-467"2
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".
Mr President, it is a great pleasure to be with you here at this hour. I am sure we all agree that quality compensates for quantity.
The next significant step will be the comprehensive monitoring report, which will be issued on 25 October. That will be an extremely crucial checkpoint for both Bulgaria and Romania.
I will underline what both President Barroso and I have said, which reflects the position of the Commission. If necessary, the Commission would not hesitate to recommend the use of the safeguard clauses of postponement provided for in the Accession Treaty of Bulgaria and Romania.
The urgent item concerns the elections that took place in Bulgaria on 25 June this year. It is in the interest of Bulgaria to rapidly form a stable coalition government capable of delivering on the reforms necessary for EU accession. Whichever coalition is formed, work must continue in Bulgaria towards meeting all commitments made during the accession negotiations.
We understand that there is a broad consensus across the party political spectrum on this objective. The new government should present an EU integration programme for implementation on all pending issues. I also note that President Parvanov yesterday signed a degree recalling the Parliament for Monday, 11 July, even though, under the Constitution, he had until 25 July to do so. So, encouragingly, there are serious efforts to keep the preparations moving on and to limit as far as possible the interruption caused by the elections.
We also understand that there are plans to keep the Parliament working through the summer holiday period to allow progress in the key areas of accession preparations. In my speech to the Bulgarian Parliament some weeks ago, I encouraged the members of the Bulgarian Parliament to use part of their summer holidays for urgent legislative work and take off for the Black Sea coast only once the EU-related work has been done.
I am glad that the response was positive and glad to find this kind of European motivation in Bulgaria. It is the sovereign decision of the European Parliament to decide on the granting of observer status. However, representatives from Bulgaria and Romania can play a key role in informing their citizens on EU matters, as well as informing us about their countries. That is a case in point of the evolving European democracy, which is a very dear objective to this House.
Since the closing of negotiations in December 2004, both Bulgaria and Romania have continued to make progress in meeting the accession requirements. However, the Commission’s ongoing monitoring exercise clearly shows that they can spare no efforts. Ensuring compliance with the accession requirements by January 2007 will pose a real challenge over the next 17 months. Every day, every week and every month counts for both Bulgaria and Romania.
For Bulgaria, progress in the fields of justice and home affairs, the environment and agriculture will be of decisive importance. Similarly, in the case of Romania, progress in the fields of justice and home affairs, especially the reform of the judiciary system and the fight against corruption, competition and state aid, the environment and agriculture will be crucial.
In June, the Commission sent early warning letters or ‘yellow cards’ to both Bulgaria and Romania in which we indicated areas of serious shortcomings. There were five such areas for Bulgaria and seven for Romania.
In conclusion, for the moment the jury is still out. The Commission will continue to monitor both countries’ progress closely and there is a constant flow of Commissioners and Commission officials to both Bulgaria and Romania. They are there not for fun but for serious monitoring and the Commission relies on its characteristic objectivity and professionalism in the monitoring exercise."@en1
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