Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-375"
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"en.20060118.24.3-375"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank both the rapporteur for his work and his predecessor Mr Laschet for what he did by way of preparation for it; I am also grateful to Mrs Ferrero-Waldner for her contribution to the fact that the neighbourhood policy is taking us into an extremely important area. This not only helps these countries, but is also a policy for stability and peace in our own interests.
I think that the action programmes must be based on an adequately funded financial instrument, and also that, in cooperation with the European Parliament – in line with the division of roles we have to respect – important areas must be included.
Involving our neighbours in several policy areas increases the bonds between us in terms of economic policy, including aid for their political development, respect for human rights and much more. The example of energy policy has already been mentioned, which involves, for example, providing aid to Ukraine. Helping Ukraine to keep hold of its own gas pipelines, and prevent them falling into other hands, is in our own interests too.
I would like to emphasise that this is equally important for Eastern Europe and for the Mediterranean. In individual cases, however, we may use different methods and arenas to achieve the goals of the neighbourhood policy. For the countries of Eastern Europe, there is a European perspective that is important in legitimising domestic reform efforts and in supporting the government so that they can do this.
This does not, however, mean that every country automatically has the prospect of accession, as the French Prime Minister, Mr De Villepin, said today in his speech in Berlin. We may also have to find methods that do not necessarily result in accession at the end of the road. We should therefore also consider whether the development of this policy should also lead to a 'European Economic Area plus'. I am using that just as a working title and as a multilateral offer that, in principle, leaves the door open for EU membership if the countries are capable of it and the European Union is willing and able to accept them. We in Parliament are currently debating whether this could be a possibility. However, that is not the purpose of this report, which acts as an intermediate step for some of the Balkan states with which accession negotiations have not yet been started, without calling into question the Thessaloniki accession commitment.
We have a lot to do here, Commissioner, and I would like, on behalf of my group, to offer you the support necessary to make progress in close cooperation."@en1
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