Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-06-Speech-3-018"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"1999-10-06"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:State of relations between Turkey and the EU2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.19991006.1.3-018"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:1999-10-06-Speech-3-0192
lpv:speaker	lp:W.G. van Velzen2
lpv:spokenAs	vice-chair; EPP-ED (1999-09-30--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Christen Democratisch Appèl (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-09-01--2002-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Madam President, we have of course, listened with great interest to the European Commission’s proposal to grant Turkey candidate status. But the problem you are now confronted with is that whilst, as a politician, you obviously have to act when the going is good, you also of course have to ask the question as to what will actually happen next once a country has been granted candidate status. For we are not talking about political dealings here but about preparations for a country to become an EU Member You only have to look at what effort it is costing the countries of Central and Eastern Europe for the inevitable question to come to mind as to what the Commission’s offer will mean to Turkey. I would like to ask the Commissioner if we are proposing to leave Turkey in this position for decades? Would it not make far more sense to achieve things little by little and to continue to work on the process we have set in motion in order to bring it to completion. Mr Swoboda’s little list of developments in Turkey was of course extraordinarily lean. As things stand we are proposing to grant candidate status to a country that does not yet fulfil the Copenhagen criteria in any way, shape or form, so as to send out a positive signal from Helsinki. I am absolutely convinced, Madam President, that it will not turn out to be a positive signal from Helsinki but that it will, on the contrary, become one big source of frustration. Moreover, what is the state of play as regards the European Union’s own preparations for the future membership of Turkey? How much thought has been given to the implications it will have for our borders? How much thought has been given to the implications it will have for our agricultural policy and for the deepening of the European Union that we are currently working on? We are simply going to have to answer all these kinds of questions. It is time for us to deepen the Union. It is time we started pondering questions of this kind now that this proposal, which is completely premature, is to be put forward in Helsinki. I hope that we will come to see the error of our ways as far as this is concerned, for it would be extremely frustrating, for the Turkish Government and the Turkish people too, if we were to grant a status which will not offer any real prospect of membership for decades."@en1

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