Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-14-Speech-3-163"
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"en.20051214.15.3-163"2
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"Mr President, our group, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, has always been an unfailing advocate of the European Union’s enlargement by countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession will complete the fifth enlargement round, finally bringing to an end the division in Europe that lasted for decades.
Just like the accession of ten new Member States last year, we want Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession to be a success, not only for the people of those countries, but also for the European Union. My group believes that both countries are capable of taking, and implementing, all the necessary measures before the final accession.
The Commission’s progress reports give an indication of what still needs to happen. The areas of concern and criticism are, above all, a guidebook for those countries’ governments and parliaments to take the necessary measures in the time that is left.
We assume that both countries will make every effort and take action in order to achieve the objectives for EU membership in January 2007. They need to give more attention to the fight against corruption and organised crime, as well as to the reinforcement of the judiciary. In addition, the European Parliament, in its reports, highlights the importance of the position of the Roma in both countries.
In April of last year, we gave our formal blessing to Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession. At that time, 20 months before the planned date of accession, we did this in the full knowledge that considerable progress needed to be made in important areas in both countries. The inclusion of a safeguard clause which makes it possible to move the date of accession back one year was important in this respect, as well as the pledge by the Commission and Council to involve Parliament fully in the decision as to whether this safeguard clause should apply or not.
We think there is every reason to be moderately optimistic that both countries will be able to meet the prescribed requirements by the next assessment. We will state our opinion on this in the spring of 2006.
One last point is, of course, our own readiness to enlarge. Tomorrow and the day after, the EU’s post-2006 multi-annual budget will be discussed in the European Council, something that has already been discussed at length this morning. I would like to stress once again that we share the responsibility of making Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accessions successful, and I would therefore urge the Heads of Government to consider this enlargement as one of their guiding principles in their decision-making, particularly in both debates tomorrow."@en1
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