Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-10-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20100210.8.3-013"2
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"Mr President, I would like to begin by reiterating the firm commitment of the Presidency-in-Office of the Council to the enlargement of the European Union. Our work in this respect will follow the line of the renewed consensus on enlargement approved at the December 2006 European Council and the Council conclusions of 8 December 2009, which have also been endorsed by the European Council.
We know that the prospect of joining the Union – what we call the European perspective of the Western Balkans – is the most important catalyst for stability and reform in these countries. It is undoubtedly a prospect, a real prospect, but it is not an automatic right.
Moving on to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, I would like to begin with a summary of the country’s general situation and I will refer to the European Parliament’s resolution, for which the rapporteur was Mr Zoran Thaler. The resolution does a very good job of presenting a dynamic situation, full of possibilities for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It highlights many of the challenges facing the country: widespread failure to comply with the law, corruption, implementation of the recommendations of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, allocation of funds for effective decentralisation, access to justice, greater participation of women in political life, support for civil society organisations, persistently high unemployment, environmental problems, etc.
The resolution underlines the importance of having a timetable for the opening of negotiations as well as the common desire to find, as soon as possible, an acceptable solution to the issue of the country’s name, which, as you know, is currently the subject of a dispute with Greece.
I would like to make a few comments in relation to events you refer to in your resolution, such as the local elections in March and April – which the OSCE considered to have met the standards laid down – and the sixth meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council, held in July 2009, which we concluded and which revealed that the country was truly fulfilling the commitments it had made under that agreement. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has continued to work on its relations with the European Union, which is why the European Commission stated that it had made real progress and recommended that accession negotiations be opened.
In its conclusions last December, the Council acknowledged the progress referred to by the Commission and agreed to return to the matter in the next few months. The European Parliament, as you know, has taken note of these Council conclusions of 8 December 2009.
Moreover, 19 December saw the entry into force of the visa-free regime, in accordance with the Schengen system, for citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
We should also mention a number of specific points relating to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: inter-ethnic relations, differences of opinion between Macedonian Slavs over the ‘antiquity’ of the country and differences of opinion over its relations with neighbouring countries. All of these topics are reflected in various sections of Parliament’s resolution.
In summary, I would like to say that some aspects warrant close attention, beyond the mere adoption and application of laws; some issues fall under the auspices of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, some are purely national matters, and some relate to neighbouring countries.
The European institutions believe that the future of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia involves membership of the European Union and that such aspirations will have to take the shape of full national integration, in accordance with the Ohrid Framework Agreement. This is what the European Union believes and will continue to believe.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to look in greater detail at the state of Turkey’s negotiations and to present the Spanish Presidency’s plans for this important enlargement issue.
As highlighted in this House’s resolution, which we are now going to debate, the first half of this year will be crucial for the negotiations with Croatia. They have entered their final phase, yet much remains to be done before we can reach a successful conclusion. We are going to have to look at difficult chapters such as those on competition, fisheries, the judiciary and fundamental rights, the environment, and foreign security and defence policy. We will also have to close provisionally some chapters with financial implications.
It is important – and I want to say this at the outset – that we continue the negotiations with Turkey, that we keep the process on track. Building on the work of previous presidencies, we hope to convince everyone of the need to move this process forward where possible.
The negotiations have entered a phase which we could say is somewhat more complicated or somewhat more problematic, which requires Turkey to redouble its efforts to meet the conditions laid down. A number of technically difficult negotiating chapters await us. However, it is important – and I want to say this at the outset, too – that Turkey makes progress on the reforms concerning the European Union.
At present, as the new Commissioner knows all too well, the technical work is focusing on four negotiating chapters: public procurement; competition; food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy; and social policy and employment. We must stress that the energy chapter is also important and it has become especially relevant following the signing of the Nabucco Agreement.
At its last part-session, Parliament debated Turkey and, in particular, the country’s democratisation. There is a contrast between, on the one hand, the process of democratic initiative, as the Turkish Government calls it, and, on the other, some worrying decisions such as the recent decision by the Constitutional Court concerning the ban on a political party, which has also been mentioned here and is a very sensitive topic.
Therefore, in spite of the progress made, further efforts to ensure that Turkey fully meets the Copenhagen criteria are required in a number of areas, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of religion in law and in practice for all religious communities, respect for property rights, trade union rights, rights of persons belonging to minorities, civilian supervision of the military, women’s and children’s rights, and anti-discrimination and gender equality measures. This is clearly reflected in both Parliament’s resolution and the Council conclusions of 8 December.
I would also like to mention some other aspects of the Council conclusions. For example, the Council stressed that Turkey needs to commit itself unequivocally to good neighbourly relations and to the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter, having recourse, if necessary, to the International Court of Justice. In this context, the Union urged Turkey – as we have done in the bilateral meetings with Turkey – to avoid any kind of threat, source of friction or actions that could damage good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
The Council also noted with deep regret that Turkey has yet to implement the Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement, the so-called Ankara Protocol, and that it has not made sufficient progress towards normalisation of its relations with the Republic of Cyprus.
In the first half of 2010, in the Association Council and the Association Committee with Turkey, we will have a chance to assess the development of our relations; it will be a good opportunity to examine significant problems, such as the political criteria, the progress made in adapting national legislation and the application of the
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We have also planned a series of political dialogue meetings at ministerial level, between political leaders, that will enable us to look at our relations in the wider international context. In this respect, the Council expects Turkey to support the ongoing negotiations within the UN framework on the issue that I just referred to, namely the Cyprus problem, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and in line with the principles on which the Union is founded.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to hearing your views and will respond to any comments or questions you might like to put to me.
Therefore, a great deal of work lies ahead. New Commissioner, Štefan Füle, who was a former colleague of mine when I was Europe Minister – and I would like to welcome him and congratulate him on his appointment – is going to be extremely busy with the enlargement issue as far as Croatia is concerned, because as soon as next week, we plan to hold an initial intergovernmental conference at ministerial level to open the chapters on fisheries and the environment, two very important chapters that, as you can imagine, will require an enormous amount of work and dedication.
Allow me to remind you about the conclusions on Croatia adopted by the Council in December. You are already aware of them but I would like to highlight a number of points. The Council commended Croatia for the considerable efforts it had made over the past year and the good overall progress made. It also referred to a series of financial measures for Croatia’s accession negotiations and noted that the negotiations were entering their final phase.
The Council underlined that building on the progress already made, Croatia still had to make significant improvements in fundamental spheres such as the judicial system, public administration, and the fight against corruption and organised crime. It also needs to guarantee the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including the return of refugees and prosecution of war crimes, in order to build up a convincing track record in these areas.
The Council noted, too, Croatia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, although it felt that further efforts were necessary. We believe that we could achieve new goals in that area.
Naturally, we also welcomed the signing of the arbitration agreement on the contentious border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia. The agreement was signed on 4 November in Stockholm and ratified by the Croatian Parliament on 20 November. The Council encouraged Croatia to build on these efforts in order to solve all outstanding bilateral issues, especially border disputes.
The Council also welcomed the creation in December, just over a month ago, of a working group to prepare the draft Accession Treaty of Croatia. Finally, implementation of the revised Accession Partnership will be crucial when preparing for the country’s eventual integration into the EU. As I said, we have a great deal of work ahead of us.
Since this is a joint debate on Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, I would like to state that the Western Balkans are one of the European Union’s main priorities. Stability in that region is vitally important to us, and in 2010, we are going to see a number of milestones in the region’s transition: progress on the applications for accession – as we have just discussed – fresh impetus for the network of Stabilisation and Association agreements, closer regional cooperation and progress towards a more liberal visa regime."@en1
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