Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-065"
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"en.20060426.10.3-065"2
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"Mr President, we all know that the issue is not whether or not Romania and Bulgaria are able to become Member States of the European Union; that has been decided, and we look forward to their accessions.
What is at issue, though, is the application of the Treaty and whether or not the postponement clause can be used, and hence the credibility not only of our enlargement policy but also of the European Union itself. Does the European Union meet its own requirements and conditions? You, Commissioner, stressed that justice and home affairs are at the heart of the assessment, and told the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs that there had been much progress, but that there were still serious deficiencies. You said – with specific reference to Bulgaria – that the independence of judges was not guaranteed, and that, while the first steps to combat corruption had been taken, nobody was being sentenced for it; that not enough was yet being done to combat organised crime and that trafficking in human beings was a problem.
I have to tell you, Commissioner, that, if all these problems can actually be sorted out, then I will be all in favour of both states acceding in 2007, but if the Commission’s report, presented to us as the fruit of close scrutiny, confirms the presence of deficiencies that cannot be remedied, then we should consider the possibility of allowing these countries still more time in order to enable them to actually meet the conditions for accession.
The fact is that, if there are serious deficits in justice and home affairs, and we still do not avail ourselves of the options contained in the accession treaty – by which I mean the application of the postponement clause – then I am persuaded that that gives the wrong impression of what the enlargement process is about, and both the enlargement policy and the European Union as a whole would have lost all credibility. I take it, then, that you, Commissioner, are aware of what your responsibility is when you draft the report and present the conclusions to Parliament in May."@en1
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