Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-04-Speech-2-139"
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"en.20010904.7.2-139"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the development of Estonia and Latvia has been rapid and I congratulate those nations on such an achievement. Freedom and independence incite nations into action. This should also be the case with people, and the control of individuals over their own lives needs, of course, to improve. This is not a project for some élite, and this point must now become clear in these applicant countries.
Europe's boom phase of economic growth has now ended. In the opinion of many we are on the way to a downturn, even a recession. This economic standstill will affect those applicant countries even more than our economies, since the former are considerably more frail. The popularity of the Union has, however, declined in many applicant countries such as Estonia to less than half of what it was, even before this economic standstill which has now taken place in Europe. The fact that a severe budgetary discipline has been followed is, in these Member States, seen as one reason for this. A downturn would reduce further the popularity enjoyed by the Union. For this reason then I ask, and urge as a priority, that we energetically seize the challenge of narrowing social differences and the social and economic gulf, since this is the base upon which we will be able to get the large majority of people in these countries to support membership. This also means that unemployment within the Union itself must not grow, otherwise it will erode the very base and the broad support for enlargement which exist here within the Union. In other words, the worsening economic situation may pose a threat to enlargement within the agreed or envisaged timetable. Therefore, let us get to grips with social inequality before this entire matter is pushed too far into the future."@en1
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