Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-044"
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"en.20010131.3.3-044"2
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".
Mr Costa, as I said earlier quite forcefully – you will forgive me repeating it – I wanted to initiate this debate immediately, early enough to discuss the essential issues and our vision of Europe, which is not just a supermarket but a community. I want us to discuss solidarity and to reach agreement on our political objectives. Thereafter, once we have agreed on the objectives and priorities and the line of approach, we must give ourselves the resources to carry them forward. So, discussing the money involved at this stage would be a poor way of opening the discussion. I know perfectly well that we shall have to discuss finance when the time comes. That is my first point. My second point is solidarity. We must continue to promote solidarity between States. You are well aware that there are States that are net contributors and others that are not. I therefore feel that this form of redistribution is quite fair and quite efficient. Thirdly, I must thank you for stating in your initial speech that enlargement entails problems and risks but also provides opportunities. This is also my view. If you look at developments over the last twenty years, with Spain, Portugal and Greece, my own personal conviction – and I never miss the opportunity to say so in the public debates I take part in – is that in the medium and long term, any enlargement process ultimately contains more opportunities than risks and problems. Quite apart from morality and politics, it is just not in our interests to allow people living on our doorstep to continue to live in poverty. Poverty, of the kind we have right next door to us, as in the countries of Eastern Europe or Albania or the Balkan states, always leads to the same outcome. When people do not have enough to eat, they emigrate. People living in poverty are prey to all sorts of nationalist conflicts, war, trafficking, and mafia exploitation. It is therefore in our own interest, quite apart from moral or political concerns, to undertake this enlargement and to pay the price for sharing progress. I must also thank you for giving me this opportunity to say that this debate must also prove that in the great challenge of enlargement there are more opportunities than risks."@en1
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