Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-16-Speech-2-203"
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"en.20060516.35.2-203"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, enlargement is the most successful of the EU’s policies, and much of the peace, stability, freedom and prosperity that we enjoy is attributable to it, but it can work only if it is conducted in accordance with proper rules, or else it will have an inherent tendency to unravel and the whole exercise will be doomed.
I have to say to Mr Watson – although he is no longer here – that my party has always argued in favour of enlargement, and that my own country, unlike the United Kingdom, has never asked for a rebate in order to fund it. I would, however, like to say that action of the kind that the Commission is proposing will satisfy the requirements of the Treaty. If conditions laid down as binding in the accession treaties are not met, then the application of these rules does not amount to discrimination against a country, but is nothing other than the fulfilment of an agreement between the contracting parties.
Reading, as I do, about the major problems that there are with corruption and organised crime, about the considerable differences that there are between the two countries, and looking closely at what the Commission has had to say about this, which is to the effect that Romania should press on with its efforts at consolidation, while Bulgaria has yet to produce any evidence of doing anything at all on this front, it strikes me that this is an important communication, and here we must act on the basis of ‘everyone on their own merits’.
The second thing to be said is that we can make European funds available only if the structures in these countries are so organised that the money can get to its intended recipients in a way that will pass muster with the Court of Auditors. Until such time as they fulfil this requirement we have a problem on our hands. Reference has been made to a number of other similar examples, but always with considerable differences evident between the two countries.
I would like to encourage the Commission to put the proposal into effect with the utmost rigour, to review the situation between now and October, and to give the countries in question a chance to address the specific deficiencies that they have. I hope that they will take this in a constructive spirit, thus making it possible for a better report to be submitted in October, failing which the relevant safeguard clause will be put into effect in the manner provided for in the Treaty. I would like to remind the Commission of this, and to congratulate them on the report they have submitted."@en1
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