Speech from Mr Hans-Gert Poettering,
Chairman of the EPP-ED Group,
in the European Parliament
on Wednesday, 23 October 2002

Preparatory work of the European Council 24 and 25 October, in Brussels

(Translation from the original German)

(extracts)

President, President of the Council in Office, President of the Commission, Colleagues,

"We fully support the political aims of the agenda set by the Commission and the Council by President Prodi and Commissioner Verheugen. However, at the same time we also have to raise the fact that the European Union is in a very serious situation at this moment. The prospects for the Brussels Summit are not good. On behalf of my Group once again I have to make it extremely clear, that we have to ensure the schedule for 2002 - the accession negotiations to be concluded, and then in March/April the treaties will be signed with membership in 2004, so that the new Member States can participate in the Elections in 2004.

"Commissioner Verheugen has just spoken about Germany and France. I fully agree with him. It is important that these two protagonists agree. However, my Group feels that it would be a very serious political error for new political strings to be attached for conclusions of negotiations... We hope that it will be possible in Brussels, as President in Office Mr Haarder has just said, that there will be a real result in Brussels, we hope so. Not that we have a sort of a result and then a delay or that the result is a delay, that would be irresponsible to have negotiations that can not be concluded by the end of the year. It would be a major political error, if these new conditions and strings suddenly crop up. We could have talked about that long ago. It would be a tragedy, if these new countries can not come in because the Union has not been able to agreed.

"I agree with Mr Verheugen that the accession countries have done what they could over the last few years. We the European Union, because of some Member States, have not done what is necessary. It would be a breach of faith with these new countries, if we do not come to a result in Brussels. I call upon everybody who is involved in the process to agree under the Danish Presidency in Brussels. Make the task easier, so that by the Copenhagen meeting we can conclude.

"In Brussels you have been talking about Kaliningrad as well, President in Office Mr Haarder you referred to it yourself, it is important for us that we resolve transit for Russia. There is a lot on the line. We do not want to give the impression that we are going to decide in Europe without bothering about what Lithuania says. Lithuania is feeling its sovereignty has to be fully respected. At the end it has to be agreed by Lithuania and we need to keep the Schengen criteria. On the basis safety and security we should be flexible when we come to a solution with Russia. It is not just access to the region of Kaliningrad, but also behind that there is this huge place called Russia where they have other problems with borders. Think about the transit across the Poland-Ukraine, Slovakia-Hungary-Ukraine borders. There are all sorts of problems there, so we have got to have safety and security. However, we have got to make it possible to make sure that people on both sides of the borders can live with it.

"You will be getting a report from the President of the Convention, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in Brussels. For the EPP-ED, we said this in our Congress, we want a result from the Convention by the end of June 2003, a clear so by the end of 2003 we have a similar treaty like a Treaty of Rome. A basic Constitution, a basic Treaty, whatever you call it, that is what we want. We have to be ambitious on that, keep to that schedule. This goes for the Enlargement and for the Convention. It is a joint duty which will be good for all on the European continent."