Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-21-Speech-3-046"
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"en.20040421.1.3-046"2
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".
I should just like to say one or two words about this subject, which is not my normal beat. Firstly, I should like to apologise, on behalf of Commissioner Verheugen, that he had to leave before the end of the debate. He had another extremely important engagement, and this debate was scheduled to have ended a good deal earlier. However, I understand why the debate has run on so long: it arouses considerable passions and great interest in all parts of the House.
We were questioned about what would happen if there was a 'no' vote on the Greek side of the island and a 'yes' vote among the Turkish community. I should underline that the Commission has already announced that we will soon be putting forward proposals to assist the Turkish community in that unhappy eventuality, which we still hope will not happen. Clearly we cannot allow the Turkish community to be punished economically and socially because of decisions made by others, so we would have to try to find a solution to the problem of Turkish economic isolation as effectively and rapidly as we could.
I should like to speak briefly about the 1999 Helsinki European Council – the first European Council that I attended. As I recall, we always knew that the policy we endorsed then had about it an element of risk. It does not come as a surprise. We thought it was important to try to decouple the Cyprus conflict from the integration of central and eastern Europe into the European Union. I believe we made the right decision then and I believe it was the right way to proceed. But against that background, and in the light of some of the things Commissioner Verheugen said, you will understand why it is not just the Commissioner who feels very strongly that we have been badly let down in the last few days and weeks. It is a sentiment that is strongly held within the Commission and one that is held way beyond the Commission. I still hope that we will not be let down. However, one cannot ignore the fact that there is that sense that we have been cheated."@en1
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