Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-12-Speech-4-035"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070712.3.4-035"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"A lot has happened since the Orange Revolution, in both Ukraine and the EU. The report that we are debating today describes what has happened in Ukraine and the problems and challenges that the country faces and that it has been presented with, as well as the work that still has to be done and the reforms that still have to be implemented. As with most of our debates on the EU’s relations with various countries, we are describing the situation in Ukraine and making demands and issuing exhortations.
Too rarely do we reflect, however, on the fact that the EU has changed over time. In the less than three years that I have been a Member of the European Parliament, Europe has already become less open, cooperative and generous and more chilly and introverted. We think too often about what things cost and too rarely about what they mean for ourselves and for the Europe of our children. That applies in particular when we begin to talk about a country’s prospects in relation to the EU or the possibility of future membership. I am therefore pleased that this report supports Ukraine’s desire and ambitions to draw closer to the EU and one day also to be reunited with the rest of Europe.
I consciously use the word ‘reunification’ instead of ‘enlargement’ because Ukraine, just like the rest of Eastern Europe, is, and always has been, a part of Europe. It is just that, for several decades, these countries had been kidnapped by Communism. It is time that we now corrected this mistake, and in the case of Ukraine the best way of doing that is to support this report, support the further development of relations between Ukraine and the EU and give Ukraine clear prospects in relation to the EU – prospects that obviously should not exclude membership once all the conditions for membership have been complied with."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples