Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-23-Speech-3-021"
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"en.20021023.1.3-021"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Council is about to approve the list of the ten candidate countries which, according to the Commission, are ready to join the European Union on 1 January 2004. There is a problem, however: neither you nor they are ready.
The Commission itself admits that only two out of the ten countries have an economy capable of contending with competition and administrative and legal structures in place capable of enforcing or respecting Community law. The Commission believes that the others will be ready within 13 months. This is not sufficient in terms of an analysis or timeframe.
Neither is the European Union ready to welcome these countries, and I am not referring here to the dangerous institutional conjecture by the Convention. I am talking about the total lack of basic consideration. Because of a semi-religious taboo surrounding the sacrosanct Community acquis, no one has asked themselves whether a Europe that has 25 Members should do the same things as a Europe of six, nine, twelve or fifteen. Suddenly, you are prepared to make second-class members of these countries. No one has wondered about the costs, financial or other, in terms of unemployment and economic and social disruption. Consider the costs of German reunification, twelve years down the line: the social and economic divide still exists in spite of the West providing financial assistance to the East estimated to be more than EUR 850 billion over this period.
Lastly, the summit in Brussels will also look at beginning accession negotiations with Turkey. Turkey is a wonderful country, a bridge between Europe and Asia, but it is not a European country, geographically, linguistically or culturally speaking. Why then, should we now try to make it think it is? Is it because of blackmail by the Turkish Government over the future of Cyprus, or because of the incredible arrogance of the US Administration which was indignant that its Turkish ally did not feature on the Commission’s list of candidate countries? It is not us who have to bear the consequences of the US Government’s Middle East policy.
Very briefly, this Europe which is handing over the interests of nations to oligarchies that have interests so different to our own …we do not want it for our countries nor do we want it for our counterparts in the East. They are emerging from the nightmare of Communism. We must not relinquish their freedom simply for the benefit of a new empire."@en1
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