Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-23-Speech-2-258"
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"en.20030923.14.2-258"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Romania belongs to European culture and civilisation, by its history, its traditions and its values. That is why its integration into the European Union, a process of returning to democratic normality for our country, has been and still is a strategic objective of Romanian society, and this objective has always been the subject of a broad political and public consensus.
Although 2004 is an election year in Romania, we hope that, thanks to a concerted effort, and in particular the work and the actions of the Romanian Government and Parliament, the accession negotiations will be completed towards the middle of 2004. In 2007, therefore, Romania will be able to become an integral part of the great family of the Union.
We are aware that the success of the negotiations depends above all on our capacity to carry out reforms, to make the State institutions work, to offer stability and predictability in political, economic and social life, and to spend in an effective and transparent way both public money and Community funds.
We appreciate our fruitful collaboration with the European Parliament, with its President, Mr Cox, and with the special rapporteur for Romania, Baroness Nicholson, who have helped us a great deal with their advice, experience and support.
In the enlarged Europe of the future, Parliament will be called upon to give greater legitimacy to the institutions of the Union, to do more to ensure that the desires and aspirations of European citizens are heard, and to direct the process of intensifying democracy in Europe.
The debate on the future European Constitution is also a debate on the future of the democracy and the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. From this point of view the roles of the national parliaments and of the European Parliament are essential.
We are aware that knowledge, innovation and scientific research contribute to the well-being of a nation, and that increased economic competitiveness via modernisation and the updating of technology ensures sustainable development and enables us to seize, in full, the opportunities for well-being offered by the European Union.
The strategic objectives of the European Union, adopted in Lisbon, will strengthen the ‘market economy’ nature of the Union, as defined by dynamism and competitiveness, and this is also provided for in the draft European Constitution. This European development model, which pays particular attention to social cohesion, is able to provide a long-term response to rapid demographic change and technological developments around the world.
Romania welcomes the European Union strategy
which makes provision for a beneficent extension of European economic prosperity to include neighbouring areas, by means of peaceful relations based on cooperation and dialogue, a collaboration which is extremely beneficial to the Union itself. In our opinion, the creation of a stability and prosperity belt around Europe could not be complete without including the Black Sea area. The South Caucasus region, which from a geopolitical viewpoint represents the real European South West, requires particular attention from the European Union, which implies an increased interest and a commitment on the part of the Union in this region.
As far as the area occupied by the Former Republic of Yugoslavia is concerned, Romania supports the European integration prospects of the states in this region, and welcomes the decisions taken at the summit in Thessaloniki. The new framework for dialogue and cooperation established at Thessaloniki provides a series of opportunities for relations with the countries of the region, opportunities which must be turned to advantage, both at the annual forum and via the strengthening of regional economic cooperation in the fields of energy, infrastructure and involvement in European Union affairs. Special attention must also be paid to the fight against illegal immigration, trafficking in human beings and drugs and organised crime, but above all to the war against the phenomena linked to international terrorism. Romania supports the continuation of peace-keeping and aid missions in the region.
Romania would like to intensify its cooperation with the countries of Central Europe and with Malta and Cyprus, future Member States of the EU, which it regards as real partners in European construction. With EU 2007 in mind, the strengthening of political dialogue and cooperation is being pursued in all spheres of European integration with the new Member States of the Union.
Accession to the European Union is regarded as a political objective as much as a means of accelerating the processes of institutional modernisation and economic and social development with the aim of narrowing the gaps in progress that still separate us from the industrialised world.
At a strictly economic level, Romania proposes to contribute towards the development of bilateral trade, and to extend its presence in the markets of the countries of the region. It intends to contribute towards the strengthening of cooperation and regional economic integration so as to improve the region’s economic competitiveness and to participate in the implementation of reconstruction projects in the context of the Stability Pact.
By reducing economic disparities in the context of the enlarged European Union, the Union, as an actor on the world stage, will gain in transparency, cohesion and efficacy in the pursuit of its objectives at world level, thereby contributing towards the reduction of poverty, the improved distribution of the benefits of globalisation in favour of less-favoured areas, and the increased participation of those areas in world trade.
Ladies and gentlemen, Members of the European Parliament, I believe that in such a debate it is also necessary to mention what we do not want the united Europe of the future to be. First of all, the project of European unity cannot be designed in opposition to transatlantic construction, but rather as a complement to it.
Secondly, we do not want an exclusive, restrictive project. Sooner or later, countries such as Turkey, the countries of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Albania and Moldova will have to find a place in the Union.
Thirdly, Europe must be a non-discriminatory construction. In that sense, the concept of a multiple Europe composed of groups of older members and more recent members is totally inadequate, like the concept of a multi-speed Europe. Europe needs everyone, all committed to one united and cohesive effort. Bearing in mind its values and its special experience, the enlarged Europe must also be prepared to implement a programme that seeks to reduce the development lags between the various countries of Europe. Such a programme could serve as a model for the reduction of those same lags at world level.
Fourthly, we do not want to reduce the European construction to the mere creation of a free-trade area. What we want is that a political Europe should emerge, and that it should be equipped with a robust common foreign policy which will enable it to assume a world role of the first order. Europe is, and must remain, an area of unity in diversity, which enables it to derive maximum benefit from its rich spiritual and material heritage, accumulated over the years by all the peoples of Europe, from a culture of dialogue and cooperation, both of which now constitute an integral part of its identity.
In the new international context, the European Union is being called upon to assume its responsibilities as an actor on the world stage, to reveal itself with greater transparency, cohesion and efficacy, to contribute towards the creation of a multipolar system based on the principles of international law and on the construction of a new world economic architecture which can counter the negative effects of globalisation, at the same time taking full advantage of its benefits.
From this point of view, the social model can become a reference model for the reduction of the economic gaps which are a feature of the modern world, gaps which are widening and becoming the most dangerous source of conflict and instability at international level.
In February 1993 Romania signed the Association Agreement with the European Community and took part, along with the five other associated countries of Central Europe, in the first summit to which those countries were invited, in Essen, in December 1994.
Immediately afterwards, Romania began the task of drawing up a national strategy for integration into the European Union, embracing all aspects of the process, laying particular emphasis on economic development problems. This was the beginning of what we Romanians call ‘the spirit of Snagov’, that is the consensus of all the political powers and of civil society regarding European integration. In effect, the Snagov Conference in June 1995 culminated in the adoption of the policy declaration of support for accession to the European Union, and in the approval of a strategy for preparing for accession, the first of its kind to have been conceived by an associated country, which also, moreover, received positive assessments from European Union leaders.
Unfortunately, for reasons which have more to do with the dynamics of the political and economic processes following the change of government in November 1996, Romania did not stick to the letter of the provisions of its strategy, which resulted in the build-up of a series of delays.
We appreciated the true worth of the gesture by the European Union and the Member States, when they invited Romania to begin accession negotiations in December 1999 in Helsinki. That decision gave an impetus to our efforts to reform governance, and forced the politicians to return to the spirit of Snagov and draw up a national strategy for the economic development of Romania. This strategy was presented in Brussels on 20 March 2000.
In February 2003, a national forum was convened in order to support Romania’s accession to the European Union. Representatives of all the political parties and of civil society took part in this forum. On that occasion, the parliamentary parties adopted a united action plan with accession as its objective.
I wanted to remind you of these stages in the structuring of Romania’s move towards Europe in order to emphasise the fact that, in Romania, integration is a process on which the political classes and the vast majority of Romanian citizens are fully resolved, and of which the costs and benefits are known and accepted.
We are aware that Romania has to continue its efforts to meet the accession criteria and to attain the objectives of the road map drawn up at the Copenhagen Summit. Romania has already achieved remarkable results and will speed up its action in order to create a functional market economy, to reform the judicial and administrative systems, and to fight a merciless war against corruption."@en1
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"Wider Europe – Neighbourhood"1
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