Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-06-Speech-3-168"
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"en.20101006.14.3-168"2
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"Mr President, I have every confidence that, tomorrow, a large majority of this House will vote in favour of visa-free travel for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. And rightly so. Despite all kinds of political troubles, they have worked very hard to comply with these criteria. In fact, they have progressed further in that respect than Serbia and FYROM had at the time when they were granted visa waivers. Therefore, I have no worries on our Parliament’s score. We have said that criteria are criteria and, as soon as a country complies with them, we will grant its citizens visa-free travel. That is important for young people, for business people and for everyone.
What I am worried about, however, is the Council of Ministers. There are rumours that some countries are having doubts. I hope that these rumours are unfounded. If the Council fails to allow visa-free travel soon, that would send out the wrong message. We would be seen to be applying double standards. The perception would be that criteria do not really count for anything, because everything really depends on political games. That the Council does not trust the Commission’s opinion. Where will that leave us then?
The matter is quite simple, in fact. The Commission has indicated that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania have complied with the criteria and, therefore, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers must recognise that, as soon as possible. They might have their own opinion about the Commission and politicians in these countries, but this is about the people who live there."@en1
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