Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-01-Speech-3-085"

PredicateValue (sorted: default)
rdf:type
dcterms:Date
dcterms:Is Part Of
dcterms:Language
lpv:document identification number
"en.19991201.7.3-085"2
lpv:hasSubsequent
lpv:speaker
lpv:spokenAs
lpv:translated text
"Mr President, I think that President Prodi did well in his intervention, all of which we should agree with, to say that enlargement is the main and essential point for Helsinki. Parliament had already been stressing for some time the inadequacy of the approach adopted by the Commission and the Council on enlargement. I think it was a question of a strategic and political error, the consequences of which were fortunately limited by the Commission’s change of mind, even though, I must say, it is sad to think that perhaps it was only the war which we experienced on our doorstep that pushed them towards this new strategy. It is right to begin negotiations with all the applicant states, but there is no doubt that we must differentiate between these countries, given that the levels of adaptation to Europe vary greatly between them. Of course, it seems difficult to talk about accession dates, even if it would be useful, very useful, in order to facilitate public opinion in the countries concerned, given that it is increasingly obvious that it is a risk: negotiations that are too lengthy may cool enthusiasm, both in Member States as well as applicant states, as shown by the recent opinion polls carried out in Poland and as I personally saw in this country from where I returned yesterday. We would therefore lose an historic opportunity, to quote President Prodi again. I am absolutely convinced that the accession of a new Member State must be the result of a broad consensus between political groups but, above all, the majority of the populations concerned should be in agreement. Therefore, we need – and this is my invitation to Parliament – to draw particular attention to the information campaigns which keep support for the European option in these countries at a high level. In this respect, I think that the PHARE programme may be the appropriate instrument, and I therefore think that it must be consolidated precisely in this area."@en1

Named graphs describing this resource:

1http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/English.ttl.gz
2http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/Events_and_structure.ttl.gz
3http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/spokenAs.ttl.gz

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph