Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-207"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20041215.7.3-207"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, Romania has a long tradition of authoritarian and undemocratic government, Left-wing and Right-wing alternately. This tradition goes hand in hand with an intolerant attitude towards its ethnic minorities – Hungarians, Roma and Germans. A great deal of attention is always paid to major dam projects, enormous factories and monumental buildings, but not to vagrant children menaced by glue sniffing or prostitution, or to serious environmental pollution. In Rosia Montana, there is still the risk of a gold extraction project going ahead, which will use chemical substances capable of seriously polluting the soil and river water in the long term. In the cities, the monumental facades hide decay, neglect and poverty. Freedom of the press and independence of the judiciary do not meet European standards. In neighbouring Moldavia, which came under Russian rule in 1940, there was initial support for reunification, but, as Romania has little to offer at the moment, that support has now ebbed away.
At present, many Romanians look up to America and the dollar above all, and, to a lesser extent, to Turkey, which is regarded as a major economic partner and an example of a self-assured country. At international level, Romania is currently, like Turkey, a close ally of the United States, so much so that it is hindering cooperation with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Complaints about election fraud were lodged again recently. I do not expect the careless interpretation of parliamentary democracy to disappear following last weekend’s election of a president from the other side of the political spectrum, who is also likely to determine the composition of a new government. This new government will probably take the view that the previous government was too meek in its negotiations with the European Union and that it had allowed itself to be humiliated.
In its previous composition, this parliament was extremely critical about the possibility of Romania fulfilling in the short term the current EU criteria in terms of democracy, human rights and the environment. That is why it seemed certain that Romania would be joining later than Bulgaria, together with Croatia at the very earliest. I am surprised at the recent U-turn within the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the rejection of a number of critical amendments. The fear that Romania might be humiliated and the EU’s ambition for speedy territorial expansion now appear more imperative than solving problems. The Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left would like to welcome Romania to the European Union as quickly as possible, provided that, as is the case with Turkey, solutions have been found to the problems in the areas of democracy, human rights and the environment, and this is still a huge obstacle at the moment."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples