Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-09-Speech-3-058"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-04-09"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Enlargement2
dcterms:Language	"de"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030409.3.3-058"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-04-09-Speech-3-0592
lpv:speaker	lp:Alfred Gomolka2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; Conference of Delegation Chairs (2002-02-07--2004-04-30)3 chair; Delegation to the EU-Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002-02-07--2004-04-30)3 member_of_the_bureau; EPP-ED (2002-03-08--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Estonia Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002-03-07--2004-04-30)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, days such as today are an occasion to look back as well as forward. We look back to the years of radical change from 1989 to 1991, when the nations of the former Warsaw Pact strove successfully to secure their freedom and independence. We look back on a difficult period of transformation, which is now giving way to a period of stability in our continent, a political stability that used to be almost inconceivable. In this context, it is quite rare to hear the applicant countries being acclaimed for having largely fulfilled the political criteria of Copenhagen right from the start of the negotiations. That is no mean achievement in view of their great economic difficulties, the residual effects of the planned economy and a sense of insecurity among the population. When I think of Latvia, for example – a country towards which I feel a special sense of affinity and commitment – I wonder how much will-power it took for the Latvians to accept former occupiers as partners and fellow citizens. I think of the referendum of 3 October 1989, when 53% of the Latvian electorate voted in favour of amendments to the country’s nationality laws, amendments which corresponded with European standards and were therefore beneficial to minorities such as the large community of native Russian-speakers. An important development of recent years that we should preserve in the new European Union is the experience of intensive cooperation across the external borders of the Union. How quickly Euro-regions materialised! The cooperation proposals that have yielded such rich fruit in recent years should also be extended to the neighbours we shall have on our new borders. Proposals to benefit ordinary people on the future external borders of the Union – the people of Russia, the people of Belorussia and the people of the Ukraine. We must not be deterred by the present difficulties. Even now we must cast our eyes beyond the external borders. Cross-border cooperation should become a prime instrument of our future security policy."@en1
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"(Applause)"1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph