Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-10-Speech-3-044"
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"en.20100210.8.3-044"2
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"Mr President, I welcome the accession reports and I want to speak specifically on Macedonia and Croatia, and then Turkey. I am pleased to follow my distinguished friend, Mr Brok, who mentioned the Copenhagen criteria. Can I reinforce that the Copenhagen criteria are non-negotiable, especially when it comes to minority rights and human rights, and Macedonia and Croatia are therefore failing to reflect the Community
especially as regards non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
I would say to both of those countries that the accession procedure is an opportunity to bring your laws into line and to explain to your citizens the need to do so, and that once you join this club you, do not join a club which is based on an à la carte menu. We will enforce the
rigorously, and especially Article 19, which gives the Union the right to combat discrimination on the grounds of – and it is a very important list – race, ethnicity, religion, belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. Why is this important? Because one person could experience discrimination on each separate ground, and to do nothing on one is to make irrelevant all the good that you have done on the other. I therefore say that lesbian, gay and bisexual rights are non-negotiable. Bring in anti-discrimination legislation now. The litmus test of any civilisation is not how it treats its majority, but how it treats the minorities that make up that majority.
On Turkey, there has been progress, and I am pleased to quote Ban Ki-moon, who says that there has been progress on Cyprus. We in Parliament should welcome that. Mrs Dodds is right: if we are going to be a part of the resolution, we have to be absolutely honest and bring the sides together. But again, on anti-discrimination, I wish them to go further.
Non-discrimination is in the Constitution, but it needs to be reflected in the laws, especially again in relation to lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered people who are often murdered for no other reason than they are transsexual. So, allow Turkey to proceed along this route, on the same terms, the same conditions. If we undermine the principles of accession, we have no principles left."@en1
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