Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-325"
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"en.20051115.28.2-325"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to tell Mr Eurlings that part of the problem may well be that too many politicians talk about the difficulties and problems involved in enlargement, and too few about its advantages.
One point I will concede to him, however, is that we must plan the next enlargements carefully and using our best judgment. I should like to comment briefly on three Balkan states, starting with Croatia. As rapporteur on Croatia, I am delighted that we are opening negotiations with that country. Many challenges still remain, and the Commissioner has mentioned some of them. I should like in particular to add law enforcement to this list, since it is still a source of enormous problems in certain regions of Croatia, where jurisdiction and administration are not really up to today’s standards. While on the subject of today, I should also like to remind Croatia that now is not the time to talk about when accession will take place, since none of us know the answer to that question. Instead, we should be talking about taking the necessary measures to ensure that the desired date of accession can be achieved.
As far as Macedonia is concerned, I am aware that some of the country’s citizens may well be disappointed that negotiations have not yet begun. Yet they should in fact regard it as an incentive to take the steps that must be taken before negotiations can begin, and before a date can be set for the start of these negotiations. As I see it, the compromise reached by the various ethnic groups in Macedonia can rightly be considered a success, in particular with regard to the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement.
Moving on to Kosovo, I believe that the line taken by the Commissioner in his report is of absolutely critical importance, and I would ask him to continue to take this line. It is plain to see that this report is inspired by sympathy for the country, yet at the same time it voices criticism of the intolerable circumstances that continue to prevail there, both in political and economic terms and with regard to minorities. This is one of the few Commission reports to be genuinely critical and objective.
The question of status and standards crops up time and time again. In my opinion, we cannot grant any country independence or offer it a closer relationship with the European Union unless it meets European standards. I am very much in favour of our giving Kosovo a helping hand, but I am also very much in favour of it meeting European standards. This also applies to the majority in Kosovo, for whom we have fought so hard over the past years."@en1
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