Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-16-Speech-3-012-000"
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"en.20110216.4.3-012-000"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of the shadow rapporteurs for their excellent cooperation, the result of which is that we have a report that will hopefully receive broad support.
I will start by mentioning what, I am sure, was a very successful visit to this House yesterday by the Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor. Mr President, you mentioned that Croatia’s accession is not only important for Croatia and for the European Union, but it is also important as a signal to the whole region. The first point that I would like to use to emphasise this relates to the reforms. If a country carries out the tasks that have been asked of it, then we must also keep the promises that were made with regard to membership. As Mr Martonyi and the Commissioner have said, there is still work to be done. The message must still be: please also take the final steps of the reforms so that we can achieve our common goal of concluding the treaty in June.
During the conversation with Mrs Kosor, Mr Schulz said that the dispute in the Gulf of Piran would previously have been settled by fighting a war. Today, we sit around a table and try to find a method of negotiating these matters. That, too, is an important signal to the region as a whole – I am thinking of Serbia and Kosovo here – that such disputes can be settled, not by fighting, but simply by negotiations and dialogue. The Prime Minister said that in her country the government and opposition were moving in the same direction with regard to the EU. My last conversation with Zoran Milanović, the leader of the Social Democrat opposition, also confirmed that to be the case.
Yesterday, we discussed Albania. Albania, too, could take this as an example of how to go about things when it comes to important common concerns, over and above any political debate.
We should therefore send a dual message to Zagreb and Croatia as a whole to the effect that we – the Council, Commission and European Parliament – are working together to be able to conclude the negotiations in June so that the treaty can be concluded and we can then give our consent in the autumn, so allowing the ratification process to actually be carried out, but please – and this is addressed to Croatia – deal with the issues that are still outstanding. With regard to combating corruption, courageous steps have already been taken, but there are a few final steps that are still needed. With regard to the reform of the justice system and also where the shipyards are concerned there is still work to be done. However, all of these points are also referred to in our report, and they do not represent insurmountable barriers, but provide the opportunity for Croatia to still fulfil the relevant requirements.
With this in mind, ladies and gentlemen, we should send a joint message today from all of us here to Croatia, and indeed to the whole region, to the effect that if a country carries out the tasks it has been asked to do, the European Union will also keep its promise of allowing it to become a member of this Union. Mr President, as you too said yesterday: it will also benefit the European Union if we accept Croatia, provided it has done what it has been asked to do.
I would therefore like to thank the shadow rapporteurs once again. If we are able to send out a signal that is as united as possible to Croatia and the whole region, we will have taken a major step forward for the peaceful integration of the entire region."@en1
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