Strasbourg, 04/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - During the vote on the Brok report on enlargement, the European Parliament sent two messages to the European Council in Nice: the request that the first accessions take place in 2004, and the undertaking that a possible further institutional reform does not create new accession criteria. The EP calls, firstly, for the first accession to the EU to take place in 2004 so as to enable the new members to take part in the European elections, which will take place that year. The EP also wants the other accessions to be ratified at the same time for the 2009 elections. The plenary adopted with raised hands a compromise made in this direction by the EPP-DE and ESP groups, a compromise whose cautious drafting could be rather harmful, according to some observers, to the importance of the message. The plenary "proposes that the Union institutions, the Member States and the applicant countries with which negotiations have begun should do everything in their power to ensure that the European Parliament can give its assent on the first accession treaties before the election of the EP in 2004, so that these countries may foresee taking part in this election, and that the following treaties may come into effect during the next legislature". The EP, on the other hand, does not request that precise dates be given in Nice.
The second amendment and significant message to the Heads of State and Government: - the Parliament considers that the current IGC "should be the last before the first wave of accessions by countries applying for membership to the European Union". If there were to be a new IGC before these accessions, the EP calls on the Fifteen to undertake in Nice that no new membership criterion be decided. "The European Council", notes the resolution, "should at present remove the possibility of any new institutional reform being envisaged as a prior condition", for accession.
The EP also adopted an amendment calling on the Commission to prepare a report on the "cost of non-enlargement" as the Cecchini Report had evaluated the cost of the non-Europe.
The Brok Report was adopted by a very broad majority (462 votes in favour, 40 against and 13 abstentions). The plenary largely adopted the text proposed by the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the other Committees, which contributed to the drafting of this report (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.14). An amendment presented by the Greens/ALE Group, hoping to attenuate the very restrictive position of the "agriculture" committee concerning the granting of direct aid to the farmers of the new members, was rejected. The plenary also voted against an amendment proposed by the ELDR Group concerning Turkey. The Liberal Group proposed approval of the status of candidate given last December to Turkey, while stressing that this "country is still far from satisfying the Copenhagen criteria". The resolution finally does not make any mention of Turkey.
The individual reports on each of the applicant states were all adopted almost unanimously (around 510 votes for, 13 against and 10 abstentions for each report), with very few amendments.
On Tuesday, commenting on the organisation of this debate on enlargement, Pat Cox, the leader of the Liberal Group, felt that "this first major debate on enlargement is beginning well". "I do not exaggerate" the influence of the EP on the negotiating process, but this debate allows the question of enlargement to be taken before the public, and to also tackle questions that cause fear among part of the public which is exploited by the populists, such as immigration, agriculture ….". Pat Cox considers it is necessary for this debate to be once a year in order to correctly follow up and control the unfolding of accession talks.
Several MEPs feel an additional financial effort by Union for candidate countries is necessary
During the plenary debate that followed the declarations of the Council president, Mr Moscovici, and of Mr Verheugen, speaking for the Commission on negotiations with applicant countries (see yesterday's EUROPE, pp.14/15), most MEPs stressed the scope of the reforms and sacrifices made by the applicant countries and the need to honour them. Several of them requested that the European Union, for its part, should make an additional financial effort for this unprecedented enlargement. We, in the EU, should put ourselves in the shoes of the citizens of these countries, who sometimes feel rejected by our hesitations and fears, said Mr van Velzen, speaking on behalf of the EPP-ED Group. Mr Hänsch, spokesman for the Socialists in this debate, expressed the wish for ratification of the first accessions during this EP legislature, and the elaboration of a sort of "Cecchini Report" on enlargement (on the "cost of non-enlargement", as this report had evaluated the "cost of non-Europe", that is, a Europe without a single market). Such a report on the cost of non-enlargement should cover not only material costs but also the cost in terms of Europe's political weight, said the president of the Liberal Group, Mr Cox. In his view, this debate is the most important at the present time but is not seen as such by the public (Eurobarometer indicates that 60% of persons questioned think enlargement is not a priority).
Co-President of the Greens Group, Ms Hautala, urged for energetic rekindling of accession negotiations. She felt that the best way to do this was to fix target dates for the conclusion of these talks. In her view, it would be necessary to establish these dates in Nice or immediately after. Mr Belder, who spoke on behalf of the Group for a Europe of Democracies and Differences, also hoped dates would be set and an evaluation of the cost of non-enlargement made. Speaking for the United Left/Nordic Greens Left, Mr Marset Campos noted that this is the first time enlargement has been envisaged on such a large scale without increasing the financial allocation. Mr Dell'Alba, from the Technical Independents' Group, spoke along the same lines, recalling that enlargement to Spain and Portugal had benefited from the "Delors Packages" 1 and 2. Finally, Mr Couteaux, of the Union for a Europe of Nations Group, said he understood that political conditions are being imposed on the candidate countries, but not economic and social conditions, which entail "financially ruining upheavals to the sole benefit perhaps of the German protector" (the elected member for "Rassemblement pour la France" took this opportunity to denounce what he sees as the "puerile" conception of European integration).
Rapporteurs of individual countries stress progress made - Poos proposes demilitarisation
in Cyprus as first "confidence building" measure
The rapporteurs for the different candidate countries acknowledged the efforts that the latter have still to make but generally stressed the encouraging developments. Estonia negotiated very effectively and may be among the first to join, said Ms Carlsson, who believes the European Union has "much to learn from the free trade" practised by this country. The Baltic is a "common sea" that could play a beneficial role, she said, noting that Estonia has been able to make major reforms "in consensus". One should not treat the Baltic States like bad pupils, exclaimed Ms Schroedter, who hoped that accession strategy would be targeted more on citizens and who, stressing the progress made in Latvia, affirmed: in order to understand what these deep and rapid changes mean, we should try and imagine this taking place in our own countries … In order to illustrate developments in Lithuania, Ms Hoff recalled that this country had just concluded its WTO membership talks. Among the "critical" issues she cited the need to close down the Chernobyl-type reactors at the Ignalina nuclear plant and the fate of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave. Elections are taking place in Lithuania on Sunday next but, whoever wins, the government will be in favour of EU membership, said Magdalene Hoff. "I believe and I hope" that the next Commission report on Poland will be more positive than the previous one, affirmed Mr Gavronski, who recognised that this country has still a way to go. He said: "If we deprive them of the right to benefit from the beginning of the right to free movement of persons, we shall be weakening the support of the Polish people for accession. This is where it rubs, public support to enlargement is diminishing, within the Union and outside, exclaimed Mr Gavronski, who considers that Poland will certainly be among the first applicants to join. From Saxony, I have long been a neighbour of these Czechs, we have been in the same boat for a long time, and I would like for us to be in it again, in a more solid boat, stated the East German MEP Mr Schröder, who felt in particular that the EU must help the Czech Republic to facilitate the integration of the Roma. Mr Schröder welcomed the fact that the Czech authorities said they where ready to examin the issue of the Benes decrees of 19454 and 1946, while adding that it is not a case of EU intransigence (especially us Germans, we have no comment to make, he added). Slovakia must also make efforts to integrate the Roma and to fight against corruption and organised crime, admitted Mr Wiersma, when thus referring to the problems already raised by other rapporteurs; though there is also "good news", he said, when citing in particular the accession of Slovakia to the OECD. Mr Queiro also cited the need for "free and not forced" assimilation of the Roma in Hungary, as well as that of the fight against organised crime, notably of Russian origin: the Hungarian authorities have taken initiatives notably in view of fighting against the laundering of money and for the protection of witnesses, he indicated, by noting for example that, at an economic level, Hungary is becoming one of the regions leading countries. Lord Bethell, who was speaking on behalf of rapporteur Mr Van Orden (absent because he was taking part in the Conservative Part Conference), recalled that, during the war in Kosovo, Bulgaria sided with NATO, even to the detriment of its short term interests, and that it set itself the ambitious target of improving its border police to Schengen levels by 2001. The "most destructive force" in this country remains corruption, he recognised and, on a personal level, he wanted to remind that "dark clouds" still weigh on the situation in this country: thus, he said that he could not comment on Bulgaria's accession to the EU as long as the authorities have not clarified the role played by Bulgarian secret agents in the assassination, twenty three years ago, of his friend the writer Markov. Baroness Nicholson noted the "encouraging signs" coming from Romania, even is it recognised the still fragile confidence of the public on democracy, and if it obviously recognised the seriousness of the problem of the trade in children who have as sole future to be exchanged for hard currencies. At the same time, she noted that Romania has a "flourishing" cultural heritage, and she recalled that, next year, 1it would be President of the OSCE (after Austria): Slovenia has become one of the countries that is best preparing for accession, felt Mr Martelli, who foresees that this country will be one of the first to accede. Mr Martelli underlined that the contribution Slovenia makes to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, while he noted, among the issues to be resolved, the restructuring of public companies, banking legislation and insurance, and the reform of the judiciary. Furthermore, Mr Martelli took advantage of the debate to call on the Serb opposition not to desert the second round of the Presidential elections, so as not to "offer a gift to Milosevic of a virtual victory and without a fight".
Mr Poos underlined the specific situation of the Cyprus candidate, where one third of the territory is "occupied since 1974 by the Turkish army". The Greek part of the Island fulfils the "Copenhagen criteria", even if the transposition of the acquis is too slow, said the former Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, for whom the accession to the EU "could play a role of catalyst" as a solution for the islands problems. "Cyprus and Turkey being candidate countries, the conflict is no longer peripheral, but is becoming a intra-Community conflict", felt Mr Poos, for whom it is necessary to immediately call for "confidence building measures" between the two countries to break this stalemate. Recalling that in the Turkish part of Cyprus there is "one soldier for six civilians, unique situation in Europe and the world", Mr Poos proposed as a first step the demilitarisation of the island.
Finally, Mrs Stenzel underlined that Malta has stable institutions, democratic and capable of functioning, and that the market economy functions, even if efforts are still needed to restructure the industry and reduce the budgetary deficit. Furthermore, recalling that the accession request made by Malts had been frozen (following a victory of the Labour party in the elections), Mrs Stenzel showed "reservations" towards the accession shown in particular by the retail trade and family business who fear to disappearance of measures protecting them; the reforms underway should enable then to continue, she noted.