Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-11-Speech-2-182"
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"en.20030311.8.2-182"2
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". – Mr President, I think the House is going to have the benefit of the President after the External Affairs Commissioner has made one or two points.
Firstly, I should like to assure Mr Beazley that there is no question of us seeking to create another iron curtain in Europe. Indeed, part of the intention of this communication is to prevent any notion of a fortress Europe being created with the 25 Member States.
When one talks about easing visa regimes, it is important to consider the conditions under which interior ministers are likely to regard that as a tolerable option. One of the things that they look at is not simply the border between the country making the application and Europe, but the other borders for which that country is responsible. When, for example - I hope after we have concluded a re-admission agreement with the Russian Federation - we begin discussing the question of visas, one question which will be raised again and again is the security of the thousands of kilometres of borders which Russia has with other countries. There are a number of conditions precedent to any serious discussion of visas.
The honourable Member also asked whether we were going to try to involve the applicant countries which have not yet joined, and whether we were involving those countries in the debate. We have the democratic process to go through, as the honourable Member said a moment ago, but the simple answer is 'yes, we are'. A number of applicant countries, for example Poland with its recent discussion document on the eastern dimension, have made very sensible and thoughtful proposals. From April the candidates for accession will be sitting in the meetings of the General Affairs and External Relations Councils and listening to the debates, so I hope that will inform their contributions in due course.
I am aware of Mr Tannock's concern about the Ukraine which he has expressed on a number of occasions. As Mr Prodi said, this document itself is not a definition of the geographical boundaries of the European Union, but I hope that our friends in the Ukraine will recognise the real efforts that we have made to help create a common political and economic space which will be to their advantage.
I would wish that we were able to have a closer and more benign relationship with Belarus. It is not our fault that does not exist. The honourable Member knows the style, objectives and policies of the regime in Belarus which led to the unfortunate visa ban not long ago. At the moment we can still provide Belarus with support for civil society developments, and I look forward to the day - perhaps after the next elections if they are conducted freely and fairly - when we can develop our relationship with that country. We do not want any country on our borders to be isolated by its own will, or by the will of its regime. I have attempted to answer the honourable Member's point about a buffer zone. One has to take account of all the borders of other countries.
Finally, I say to the honourable Member - whose interest in these matters I readily acknowledge - that he should recognise that many of us believe passionately that when we discuss enlargement we are not just talking about a matter of money. We are not just talking about commercial, economic or even geostrategic interests. For many of us the case for enlargement is a moral one.
The honourable Member should not worry too much if we think it is worth expressing that case as vigorously and as comprehensively as possible. Though I have intervened in their debate myself, I do not believe that the people of Malta, who have a certain reputation for courage and independent-mindedness, are likely to be swayed by the occasional advertisement in one of their newspapers, or even, I must confess, by the occasional interview with the Commissioner for External Relations. They might be much more swayed by interviews with the Commissioner for Enlargement who has a much more silver tongue than I do, but I hope, as this democratic process rolls across Europe, that the honourable Member will see one country after another voting to come home."@en1
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