Strasbourg, 07/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The statements by President Prodi and Mr Verheugen to the European Parliament, on Wednesday (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.3) allowed to clarify certain things, notably with regard to the need to better inform the people of the positive effects of the next EU enlargement, noted the Parliament members who spoke in the short debate that followed these statements. Though the debate also allowed for the expression of perplexities and bad humour, as with the President of the EPP group, the German Mr Pöttering, who said he was "dismayed" by certain statements by Mr Verheugen and that he reproached him for having said, in his interview to Suddeutsche Zeitung, that the European Parliament can only be unanimous when it is a case of opposing the European Commission. On the contrary, in the issues that affect the future of the European continent, the Parliament is alongside the Commission, asserted the CDU member. You did not want to say what you where made to say in your interview, but an impression was created and it must be dissipated, asserted the German Social-Democrat Mr Hansch, while recognising that it is necessary to explain to the EU citizens that the effort represented by enlargement corresponds to the level of opportunity it presents: we have the possibility of uniting all the peoples of Europe, we cannot miss this opportunity. If a message is ambiguous and badly expressed, it can be misunderstood, said the President of the Liberal group Mr Cox: but if, when he speaks of "dirty work", Mr Verheugen makes an allusion to the difficulty of Commission daily work while the Council goes to candidate countries and make nice promises, the Parliament must support the Commission (before the press, Pat Cox asserted that the "plain language" of Mr Verheugen even if it seems sad, could be "retrospectively useful" of it helped to show that the Member States are make two different speeches while the Commission is blamed for the delay in the enlargement negotiations). It is too easy to make promises, agreed the co-President of the Green group, Mrs Hautala, who called for more clarity over issues of enlargement, including with regard to the Union, to which it is necessary to remind that the Eastern Countries where invited to join the Union eight years ago, and that the process once started is irreversible. The German PDS member Mr Brie asked himself: is it possible that we miss read your interview? And that he spoke out against all "secret diplomacy": in this case, the Parliament will be behind you, he assured Mr Verheugen. For Mrs Muscardini, the Italian from the Union for the Europe of Nations, if public opinion is not convinced of the advantages brought by enlargement, it is because the institutions are not dealing with the problems that truly concern the citizens. It is not the Italian radicals, concluded Mr Dell 'Alba, who oppose the organisation of referendums to consult the citizens: the issue that concerns us is the means of financing, as it is impossible to carry out enlargement if we cannot pay for it, he said.
This debate shows me that the Parliament's attitude towards the Commission is not what I thought, I am thus ready to withdraw my judgement on this issue, answered Mr Verheugen, adding that for him "dirty work" only means "difficult laborious work". To a question from the British Conservative Mr Van Orden over the results that a referendum on the Euro in Germany, Mr Verheugen simply answered (by recalling that he was at the time President of the Bundestag Special Committee on the issue) that the case is resolved since 1993. Finally, he noted that the Parliament and Commissioner are generally in agreement, namely over the necessary and irreversible character of enlargement.