Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-16-Speech-3-014-000"
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"en.20110216.4.3-014-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have to admit that I feel very moved today, because this year marks 20 years since the movement for democracy in Slovenia and Croatia was consolidated. It was a year old and the people rejoiced as they did in Hungary, the Czech Republic and elsewhere.
Then on 28 June 1991 came the brutal attack by the Yugoslav People’s Army. At that time, everything seemed to have reverted back to how it used to be. I was in Vukovar when this small, blossoming model of Europe was destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and thousands lost their lives. Since then, I have been able to accompany Croatia along the path towards the European Union. We quite clearly have to acknowledge that Croatia has made an extraordinary effort to move along this path.
The Commissioner has come up with the key word today. He spoke of fairness. We could give the Swoboda report the overall title of ‘Fairness for Croatia’, because that is the heart of the matter. It is not about privileges or discounts – that has rightly been said – but about fairness. Croatia is ready for accession to the European Union now. Final efforts still need to be made in a few areas in the next few months. However, we must not create artificial barriers for this country, as has, unfortunately, repeatedly been the case over the last few years. Croatia belongs in a historical and cultural context with Slovenia and Hungary. It should have been accepted into the European Union along with these Central European countries – Croatia is also very much a Central European country. This did not happen for a multitude of reasons, but now the time is ripe. That is why we are pressing for this. We are not setting any dates – we are sticking to our line that criteria are more important than dates. However, we are calling very strongly for no artificial barriers to be created and for this country to be treated fairly and justly."@en1
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