Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20060426.10.3-059"2
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"Mr President, even though the Commissioner may struggle to answer a number of questions because he is still working through some of the issues, I am convinced that he has grasped the importance of those questions and the fact that we expect the answers by 16 May. As my group chairman has already said, we assume, hope, and expect that both the countries under discussion today will be able to join on 1 January of next year. This is something we have always said, and we also believe that we should not create an atmosphere of competition between Romania and Bulgaria. That is not what this is about at all.
Whilst we should discuss what is yet to be done, we must also, and above all, take stock of what has been achieved so far. Over the past few years, it has been our constant refrain that both countries still had a lot to get done; now, we can look back and say that both of them have achieved a great deal. There is also a little coda to this, on which the Commissioner will be reporting in a few weeks’ time.
As my colleague has already stated, we, as a group, did the same thing that Mr Ferber has apparently done and launched our own monitoring initiative. We went to Bulgaria and Romania, and noticed that much progress has been made in both countries. In all talks, we get the strong impression that both governments, including the Bulgarian Government, recognise what is yet to be done. I am convinced that the talks that are still underway about a number of problems will reach a successful conclusion. That is why I am optimistic about the outcome on 16 May.
We also insist that the Council, in June, should base its decision on Commission’s proposals and Parliament’s verdict. I think – as do many others – that there are a number of areas in which work will continue until the end of the year, that the pressure should be kept on in terms of the process and that we cannot indeed rule out a time when a number of safeguard clauses will need to be put in place, although I would urge both Romania and Bulgaria to do everything in their power to avoid this.
In the final analysis, what matters most to us in the assessment after 16 May is what the Commissioner said on 3 April, namely that we can postpone the debate only if it turns out that one of the two countries is clearly unprepared in one or more areas. I assume that this conclusion, that those words, will not be used in the Commissioner’s reports, but we will have to wait and see.
Finally, if you will allow me to comment on the Commissioner’s opening remark, I should like to draw your attention once again to the floods, particularly in Romania, but also in Bulgaria, and appeal to the Commission to make every effort in order to help those two countries, along with Serbia, and also to examine what can be done to prevent such disasters from striking in future."@en1
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