Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-19-Speech-2-094"
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"en.20021119.2.2-094"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, I have been greatly impressed by the speeches this morning on the historic deeds of the citizens of the Central and Eastern European countries. In those days, it was the yearning for freedom and democracy that caused the barbed wire to be torn asunder, walls to be brought crashing down, and independence to be restored – all that in the conviction that this was the right way to integrate and unite this continent.
The powerful will towards integration at that time did not allow people to count the cost or consider who would meet the bill, still less wonder whose privileges might be done away with in the process. It was the common will that brought everyone together in the desire for their freedom to be restored to them. Ladies and gentlemen, such things could never have been achieved if they had wavered or doubted. It is actually a pity that what we do today is not determined by such political vision, in tandem with political willpower.
I do not want to give the impression of simply wiping away the problems that are actually on the table before us, or of thinking that they do not exist. But the solving of these problems demands of us that we set priorities, and in doing that we have to take care that the priorities are those on which the integration of Europe depends; we must not pander to populist buffoons and their sideshows. I am convinced that a core indicator of integration – and, moreover, for everyone – is adherence to the basic rules of democracy, protection of minorities and respect for human rights.
I consider it important that the candidate countries should not flag in their efforts to integrate in this respect. This will also mean them strengthening their administrative systems right down to the local level, combating corruption, building up the ministries of justice and the legal system at every level, giving everyone free access to the courts and enabling them to feel that they have been treated fairly, for that is where they will feel the changes that the European Union has brought about in their country.
What this means for Latvia is that, even after its accession, it must endeavour to integrate the Russian minority and not let up in its efforts on the financial front, although the new government will find it hard to keep taking financial decisions of this sort.
It is also the European Union's duty to itself, however, to be capable of being integrated, of taking decisions, of taking on a transparent and democratic form, and, on that point, I have to say that the Western side has to do its homework better. The accusation of incompetence was levelled in connection with agricultural and also structural expenditure, and I believe that it is not justified.
I believe it to be important that rural and regional development should be a key focus of attention. If we do not watch out, these are areas in which the candidate countries will end up being in a state of passive dependence for years and indeed decades. This is a very important point, and I have to say that Brussels simply made the wrong choice here. I thought it right to go along with Commissioner Verheugen's proposal; we should introduce a greater element of flexibility, so that payments should be made where there is the capacity to absorb them, thus ensuring that structural development makes progress in these countries.
I take the very same approach where waste-burning reactors are concerned. Waste-burning reactors will, post-enlargement, be a problem for us all, and so they are another area in which I consider flexibility necessary. In the event, for example, of Lithuania being unable to deal with Ignalina on its own, there must be a substantial increase in funding. In view of the fact that the atomic power plant is potentially explosive and a danger to everyone, what I want is for the last things we do to lead to the real integration of these countries rather than to ..."@en1
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