Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-09-Speech-3-106"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080409.20.3-106"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Madam President, I have heard a great deal of agreement here on Macedonia. Negotiations must come into view, and the difference of opinion with Greece over the name must be resolved. Apart from Mr Stoyanov, who is probably harking back to Macedonia’s original association with Bulgaria under the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, everyone, Greece included, wants to see Macedonia take its place as an equal in the European Union.
Up to now, both parties have been expert in explaining the other party’s long-standing commitment. Greece expects Macedonia to change its constitutional name, and until 2 April Macedonia expected Greece not to block its accession to the EU.
Both parties fail to realise that all of this is completely incomprehensible to other Europeans. Both parties want this enlargement of the European Union to succeed, but at the same time are helping to delay it further. It now seems to be a game of who makes the first move. If no one does, the enlargement everyone desires will come to a temporary halt.
I agree with Mr Kacin and Mr Pinior that we should not wait for any subsequent reports, but rather seize the first suitable opportunity to start negotiations with Macedonia.
Madam President, I should like to conclude my speech in this joint debate on two candidate countries with one remark about Croatia for which my group has not requested separate speaking time.
Croatia wanted to join the EU at the start of 2009, but it will be 2010 or 2011. The main problem still outstanding is shipbuilding on the Adriatic coast. It is not without reason that the EP delegation to Croatia is visiting the Rijeka shipyards on 29 April. In my group’s opinion, we should not make any requirements of Croatia that the population could perceive as an insoluble problem and that could make the country’s accession to the European Union unnecessarily controversial.
In short, let us try to promote both countries’ progress towards the European Union, so that, in a number of years’ time, we are able to welcome both Croatia and Macedonia into our midst."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples