Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-09-Speech-3-285"
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"en.20030409.6.3-285"2
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".
Mr President, the Council agrees with the importance the honourable Member attaches to the right of refugees and exiles to return to their countries, which is considered to be a fundamental human right.
Under Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, any European state which respects the principles set out in Article 6(1) may apply to become a member of the Union. In other words, principles such as freedom, democracy, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. The Council would remind the honourable Member that, since the European Council in Feira, countries in the stability and association process are potential candidates for accession to the European Union. Croatia, for example, applied for membership on 21 February. This European prospect was recently confirmed during the European Council in Copenhagen last December, which also reiterated the criteria of the European Council in Copenhagen in 1993, some of which are political criteria and must be met in order for a country to accede to the European Union.
It is still too early for evaluations in connection with possible dates for starting accession negotiations with the countries of the Western Balkans. In the meantime, the stabilisation and association process remains the Union's focal point in the area. It is a long-term approach, the purpose of which is to support the reforms which are needed and which are in keeping with the European Union. The rate at which each country goes through the various stages of the process depends on its improved ability to undertake the obligations which derive from closer and closer links with the Union and from meeting the preconditions laid down by the Council in April 1997.
The Council examines the progress made by each country every year and this tool is used to take decisions on how relations will develop in the future. The most recent examination at Council level was on 13 May 2002. The next examination is planned for mid-2003 and will enable progress made in the meantime by the various stabilisation and association countries to be evaluated. I should also like to say that the Council decided on 22 July 2002 that the European Union would use the same opportunity to evaluate progress made with the return of refugees and exiles. In any event, this issue is discussed regularly by the Union, depending on requirements, during various contacts with the countries in the region. The Union therefore has a number of means at its disposal at this stage which allow it to monitor the application of the policies which the honourable Member addresses in his question."@en1
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