Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-187"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060926.23.2-187"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, those of us from the post-Communist countries that are now Members of the Union suddenly find ourselves facing the kind of temptation that has all too often proved irresistible to the original, old, advanced – call them what you will – western countries. We are inside the ramparts, able to look down patronisingly on the newcomers trying to get inside the EU castle of which they have been dreaming. We peer at them and lecture them. Luckily, we in the Czech Republic have very recent direct experience of this degrading, patronising behaviour and of having to face a constant stream of pointless new conditions and quotas, as well as one-sided restrictions. For this reason, we are able to express our solidarity with both of these countries. We also know that many of the problems that beset Romania and Bulgaria are not of their own making, but the result of half a century over which, like us, they were deprived of natural development, of market economics and of free, representative democracy. Like us, they were handed to the wrong half of Europe by the decision of the post-war powers, and the people of both countries went through hell under the Communist dictatorship.
We believe that this is why we in the Czech Republic have resisted the temptation to impose more humiliating restrictions on them concerning movement, employment and services. This is clearly what the protectionist western EU Member States are seeking. I believe that our relationship with them will be the same as we expected from the 15 western countries when we became fully-fledged Member States. We are still second-class Member States, and I feel that, for this reason, we will not turn the two new countries into third-class Member States. All the less so for the fact that while the EU is lecturing Romania and Bulgaria, two countries with European traditions, culture and values, it is at the same time playing a dangerous game over the accession of Turkey, turning a blind eye to Turkey’s attitude to minorities, to democracy, to the plurality of faiths, to women's rights and to its own brutal history. I believe that these two most European of countries, Romania and Bulgaria will soon become fully-fledged EU Member States alongside the rest of us."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples