Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-334"
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"en.20051115.28.2-334"2
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"Mr President, it is probable that another three new Member States – Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria – will join the EU before the decade is out.
Croatia has already done an enormous amount of groundwork, and accession negotiations with this country could be the fastest in the history of enlargement, provided that both parties are willing. Romania and Bulgaria still have a great deal of catching up to do in terms of justice and minority issues, with the latter above all a priority for Romania. Our task in spring will be to decide on a final date for accession, and we will take a critical but objective and open approach to this task.
Turkey does not belong to Europe and never will. Our aim is to offer this country a privileged partnership, but even then it would still need to meet the criteria. I would like to invite Mr Rehn to comment on the Law on Religious Foundations, for it is our distinct impression that minorities in Turkey, most of which are Christian, continue to face enormous discrimination.
There are three priority problems for us to tackle in South-East Europe. The first of these is the democratisation of Serbia, the second is constitutional and treaty reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the third is the issue of Kosovo’s status and its future independence. While on the subject, I should like to tell Mr Pahor that I am very much in favour of the Slovenian President’s initiative, which I believe is a step in the right direction.
It goes without saying that all these problems can only be resolved in a wider European context. If I may, I should like to put a question to the Commissioner in this connection; what does the European Union mean to us? Does it mean nothing more than a group of nation states that use the prospect of enlargement as a foreign policy tool to stabilise neighbouring nation states, or do we genuinely want a strong federal Europe that is capable of acting and in a position to assert itself on the global stage?
Since I believe that the latter should be the case, I should like to make it clear that I have always been in favour of enlargement, and continue to be today. Yet we need a clearly defined period of consolidation, as well as a clear idea of the future institutional basis for this European Union of ours and of its future borders. I should like to point out to the Commissioner that the two latter issues are of key importance in my opinion, since this is a debate that we have sidestepped to date."@en1
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