Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-262"
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"en.20030408.12.2-262"2
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"President Trajkovski, you are very welcome to the European Parliament today. It is a great honour and privilege for me to be able to introduce you to our House.
You are now on the path to this European vision which we share. I believe that the speed of your advance depends on you, on your progress in reform, on your political determination and your strong resolve. But each step you take in that direction, we will travel that road with you.
That is the message I would like to give you today on behalf of my colleagues here. You can count on our support.
It is now my great honour and privilege to invite you to address the House.
In this Parliament we know all too well what the countries in your region have gone through in the past decade, and in particular the ordeal by arms and violence which you have all had to live through, but nonetheless yours is a country which in its current phase brings us a certain message of hope. The crisis in 2001 was one which, with active assistance from the international community – including, I am proud to say, a very hands-on and determined approach by the European Union – managed to avoid slipping into a costly civil war. It has instead resulted in steady progress in terms of democracy and in your commitment, and the commitment of your country, to developing good neighbourly relations, respecting the rule of law, boosting the economy through trade and cooperation and working through the Ohrid Framework Agreement over time.
This provides the bridge for your country to make a full return to its international connections and to a point from which you may begin to realise your European vision.
We in this House strongly support the policy of the Union seeking to develop a European perspective for the Western Balkans. Your address here today, and in the context of current progress being made in your country, is an important bridgehead towards the EU for the region in general as well as for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in particular.
The recent despicable assassination of Mr Zoran Djindjic in Serbia highlights again to us the need for stability in this region and reminds us of our duty of care to act when we have the capacity to do so and the circumstances present themselves.
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, like all the former Yugoslav states, already belongs to the European family. This was explicitly recognised at the European Council in Feira in June 2002. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, like the other countries of the Western Balkans, has a European perspective. We are very pleased in this House that the first ever operation of the European Rapid Reaction Force has started in your Republic.
This is the clearest possible signal of the Union's commitment to the region. Indeed, at a moment when we are living through a sense of Europe having failed to find its voice in an adequate way on the Iraqi crisis and in the UN, we look to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as one of the successes of the embryonic and emerging common foreign and security policy in Europe."@en1
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