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Meeting of the
Bureau of the EPP-ED Group
8 - 9 November 2001
Budapest - Hungary
Interview with Wim van Velzen,
Vice-Chairman of the EPP-ED Group,
EPP-ED responsable for enlargement of the EU
(9 November 2001)
September 11 has turned the political landscape upside-down. Some analysts are saying it will result in much more rapid NATO enlargement - but a slowdown in the process of the EU's enlargement. What is your view? Is there enough political will in the existing EU to keep to the enlargement timetable? And how do the EPP parties like Fidesz see things?
The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th and the events following these have emphasised the necessity for international cooperation in the field of security. NATO enlargement is an important step in this direction, but it is not sufficient. We need not only an external security network, such as NATO, but to develop internal security structures as well. These internal structures should be developed within the EU and together with the candidate countries; to the benefit of our own safety as well as theirs.
Regarding the enlargement timetable, the EPP-ED Group was the first to state that the first candidate countries should be able to participate in the European elections of 2004 and we still think that this timetable is feasible. But the Group has also stated that every country shall be judged on its own merits, meaning that every country will be screened individually to see whether or not it complies with the Copenhagen accession criteria. It should be avoided to negotiate about these criteria, just to work towards a desirable outcome. Hungary is one of the front runners in the negotiation process and our sister party Fidesz, the party of Prime Minister Orban, is confident to finish the negotiations by the end of 2002.
Security, notably of frontiers, is a big worry in this future Europe. For example, we know that many Afghan refugees are crossing into Eastern and Central Europe, and from there -via more or less porous borders - into the EU. What is to be done about that? What do you think of proposals for a trans-European border police force?
What we need is a common policy to deal with the influx of refugees and the people smuggling into the EU. This policy should be put into practice by the police, border control officials, administrative services, etc. You can compare it to the international war against terrorism; it is a fight that has to be fought in several policy areas and in several countries. I do not think that a trans-European border police is the solution, first of all, because I think that the police fall under national competence. Secondly, I think it is impossible to close off all borders. Think of a country like Italy, which has 1200 km of land bordering on the sea. How would you guard all of that? It is more important to develop a quick selection procedure for refugees and to exchange information between member states. We should also speed up the development of a Europe-wide arrest warrant, including a list of relevant criteria, on the basis of which suspects can be apprehended in every member state.
Tightening up border controls, and the connected problems of fighting terrorism, organised crime, and people-smuggling, these all place a huge extra burden on candidate countries which are already under big political and economic pressures. How can or should the EU help?
The EU can help by offering its experience and invest in the education and training of the police, border control officials and administrative officials. Another possibility is "burden sharing", which has been applied when securing the borders between Poland and Belarus: Poland provided for the infrastructure and the EU supplied them with the necessary facilities.
If the borders of the future EU are to be much tighter, that will have severe consequences on the people and economies of non-candidate countries like the Ukraine. Do you see any solutions, or partial solutions, to this problem?
We should see to it that good bilateral agreements exist between the EU and for instance the Ukraine, including economic cooperation and the creation of a free trade zone.
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