Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-332"
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"en.20051115.28.2-332"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, in principle the Commission’s proposals are a welcome development, and its enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans is exactly right. The fact that the Commission has now formally confirmed that EU membership is a medium-term prospect for the Western Balkan states is also good news. This is enormously important for the future development of this region, since in the long term it is the only thing that will bring peace to this part of Europe, which has had such a difficult past.
At the same time, however, the European People’s Party (European Democrats) would urge the Commission to assess the fitness of each candidate country in the Western Balkans to join the EU on an individual and point-by-point basis before binding dates are set for the opening of accession negotiations, and before timetables are drawn up for accession. The Commission must not make the same mistake with the countries known as the Western Balkan states that it did in the case of Romania and Bulgaria, and particularly in the case of Turkey, when it named a date prematurely, before the criteria had been met in full. The European public’s reaction to such a move would be even greater opposition to other countries joining the EU, while at the same time excessive demands would be made of the Balkan states in terms of their capacity for reform. This is the last thing we can afford in this highly unstable region, parts of which were ravaged by civil war until recently.
As the Commissioner himself said, it is apparent that significant progress has been made with reforms. The Commission is right to maintain that Croatia and Macedonia have made the most progress, and have therefore already been recognised as candidate countries, or soon will be, as in the case of Macedonia. This should also act as an incentive for neighbouring countries that are lagging behind on the road towards EU membership for many different reasons.
Each of these countries has its own lot with which it must contend. Albania must recover from the decades it spent under the communism of Enver Hoxha, when the country resembled a high-security prison. Bosnia and Herzegovina must come to terms with the nightmare years of displacement, murder and war, and shoulder the burden of the Dayton Agreement, which was a monstrosity that ended the war but failed to establish a platform for good governance and cooperation. Serbia took a long time to free itself of its dictator, and it is currently unclear how long its state union with Montenegro will last. Finally, the status of Kosovo must be determined without delay, by means of an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina mediated by the international community. I was pleased to hear the Commissioner say that the Commission would present an initiative and a strategy on this matter.
The Western Balkans and our enlargement strategy for this region are a litmus test for our European policies."@en1
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