Brussels, 21/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - After Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, the EU is expected to close its doors and offer the other candidate countries, such as Turkey and the Western Balkan countries, “an alternative to membership, a third way between accession and association”. This was highlighted in Brussels on 21 March by Bavarian Minister President Edmund Stoiber (CSU) who, with the whole of his Land's government, discussed the matter with Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Mr Stoiber supports the European Parliament's position which, in the Brok resolution adopted last week in Strasbourg (EUROPE 9153), urges for the possibility of suggesting that the countries with the prospect of EU membership (for example Turkey and the Western Balkans) should join a new “multilateral framework” that also groups countries without any prospect of membership but in which “close relations” with the EU are guaranteed in many fields, without necessarily culminating in accession. If the EU wants to win back citizens' confidence, it should put an end to “systematic accession” and decree a “stop to enlargement”, mainly for Turkey, Mr Stoiber said. In order to maintain its identity and define its borders, the EU should also specify its absorption capacity and add new membership criteria such as the EU's ability to act, economic and social cohesion, safeguarding of European identity, the capacity to fund future enlargement and the acceptance of new members by EU citizens. “If such criteria are applied to Turkey, it is obvious that this country's membership is out of the question”, Mr Stoiber concluded.
Regarding future EU funding, Mr Stoiber took a stance against the idea of a European tax to increase the EU's own resources. “Only national States can levy taxes. The European Union is not a State. It would be impossible to explain to citizens that they should pay more for Europe”, he warned. He also urged for a correcting mechanism to be introduced into the EU budget in order to reduce Germany's financial contribution in a “sustainable manner”, as Germany “remains the main net contributor to the Union”.
As a direct neighbour of the Czech Republic, Bavaria is also opposed to abolishing systematic police controls at the borders with this country (and also with Poland), before these two countries are able to comply with and apply all the requirements spelled out in the Schengen Agreement, Mr Stoiber stressed.
When it comes to competition policy, Mr Stoiber called for “rigorous intervention” on the part of the Commission against Spain's jamming of the acquisition of Endesa by the German company, E.ON.