Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-471"

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"en.20050706.35.3-471"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the reason why we called for this debate was that we wanted an opportunity to discuss at what point it would be right to invite observers. Let me start by pointing out that it was not the plenary that took this decision, but the Conference of Presidents. This is a highly political decision, and so there cannot fail to be some doubts about this. The proper place for decisions such as this one is in this plenary and in broad daylight, and it is not very democratic for them to be taken by the Conference of Presidents and behind closed doors. Turning to the matter in hand, Mr Horáček is quite right to draw attention to the continuing deficiencies in the processes of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession. We all want Romania and Bulgaria to become Member States of the EU; about that there is not the slightest doubt. If, though, we impose conditions on their accession, we must ourselves take those conditions seriously. I would add that one reason why the results from the French and Dutch referenda were so devastating was that many members of the public get the impression that, although we attach conditions to a country’s accession, we do not ourselves take those conditions seriously. That is why the enlargement process has got completely out of hand; the fact is that we cannot cope with enlarging the EU and deepening it both at the same time, and we must now be very firm in giving priority to deepening it. Even so, it sent the wrong message to invite these countries to send observers over a year before an accession the date for which has not yet been fixed. It is, after all, quite possible – as the Commissioner himself has just hinted – that accession will be put back a year in consequence of the situation that Mr Horáček has described so accurately. Are the observers, then, to be with us in this House for two and a half years? That would surely be inappropriate, to say the least, and so the right thing to do would indeed be to take the decision only once the progress report has been produced. It is for that reason that we want to discuss that now."@en1

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