Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-185"
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".
Mr President, in 2004, Romania and Bulgaria were considered less ready than the ten states that joined at the time. There was no doubt that, given time, they would be treated as equal to them. The Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left has always backed them in their endeavour, being guided by the principle that those countries should not in the first place be assessed in terms of privatisations, cutbacks, good relations with internationally active large enterprises or of their NATO membership. Instead, our focus is on human rights, good democratic governance and good environmental policy.
In 2005, I voted to support, in principle, the future accession of Bulgaria and Romania. The question then remained as to when and how this enlargement could be achieved effectively. This House has insisted on Romania having the right to defer, whilst for Bulgaria, the application of that possibility was left entirely in the hands of the Council. That happened at a time when the disquiet surrounding shortcomings in Romania was at its peak and it was expected that Bulgaria would yield the least problems. Since then, in fact, it has been Bulgaria that has been the cause of increasing disquiet.
In both countries, the plight of the Roma people is worse than in most of the other states that have recently joined us. In a number of cases, the places they have called home for a long time have been declared illegal and they have been driven away. The people belonging to the Hungarian minority in Romania or the Turkish minority in Bulgaria also have problems to contend with, even though those to a lesser degree than in the recent past. The government is no longer intentionally putting those people at a disadvantage, but there is an attitude of apathy in respect of the discrimination by ultra-nationalists against those groups. Nor, indeed, has anti-Semitism yet ceased to be a problem.
During previous debates on this topic, my group tabled proposals for improvements, among others, further to the illegal payments that are demanded from EU residents of Turkish origin passing through Romania. It is unfortunate that a majority could not be found in this House to back these demands, although a majority did express concern about the use of a dangerous toxin in mining preparations in Rosia Montana. In a communication issued by Romania on 23 September, it was reported that an environmental impact report had been launched and that its neighbour Hungary is being consulted in respect of the risks concerning toxic waste water moving in its direction. Since there is no outcome as yet, we will be unable, unfortunately, to incorporate it in this House’s final verdict on Romania’s membership on 11 October.
My group fears that, after accession, many problems will still need solving, and that in the event of any mishaps, a further enlargement of the European Union will be seen as ever more controversial by public opinion in the current Member States. Despite this, it looks like a majority of my group will, following preparatory discussions, be voting in favour of accession on 1 January 2007, an important argument in favour being that other Member States have joined before despite their unresolved problems, and that a year’s delay will not yield any significant improvements.
Finally, I should share with you that the Dutch Socialist Party, to which I belong, has been led by these many problems to join, in the Dutch Parliament, with the Christian Democrats in speaking out against 2007 as an accession date. We think that a host of problems have yet to be resolved, but the real vote will be on 11 October."@en1
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