ROMANO PRODI President of the European Commission Avrupa Komisyonu Başkanı Statement On Enlargement I have repeatedly stressed that enlargement is the single most important task that the Commission is committed to set on track. There is a need to achieve this new page of history for the Union, as soon as possible, in accordance with the objectives set by the European Council and the Commission itself, and frequently presented before this House. It is, a highly complex issue. From a political point of view, the Commission is conducting the negotiation process in a transparent and objective way. On the side of these new democracies, it is an enormous effort which is taking place, which we are always at risk to underestimate. But this effort must be matched on our side by political generosity. This generosity has many sides: one is that I can only repeat, once more, that the Union must be ready to open itself to new Members by January 2003. As far as I see it, the main issue on the side of the Union in order to put its house in order, is to achieve in Nice by the end of the year an instutional reform of sufficient quality, to allow our system not to be diluted. There is another side to the political generosity, that it is our responsibility to show: it is that we must all be anxious to gain the widest possible support from the citizens, in favour of the enlargement process. And I am not confident that the public opinion is yet sufficiently on board. Seeking to ensure democratic support for this task of historic dimensions reflects our will to reinforce the process, and certainly not to delay it. The ways and means to ensure such support, whether in the Member States or in the candidate countries, are obviously matters that they can decide best. In particular, the procedures of national ratification of the enlargement, are national, constitutional, matters. It is certainly not the intention of the Commission to interfere in the debate. Neverthless, this is a different matter, we must all play our part in explaining what is at stake to our citizens. I have always understood the Parliament to be, like the Commission, fully committed to doing that: explain, explain, and explain to our citizens, that enlargement is not a threat, but a historic opportunity in all respects, and in the first place in favour of peace on our continent. The loyal commitment of all commissioners to the policies of the College, as a hallmark of my presidency. And, as this house knows, I do not lack the means to enforce that, if needed. In this particular case I am fully convinced that Gunter VERHEUGEN entirely shares the policy of the Commission which this House has endorsed on many occasions. He has my full confidence in leading the enlargement negotiation to a rapid and successful conclusion. Intentions must now be followed by actions Enlargement is clearly the single most important issue that the Comission and Parliament have to deal with during their respective mandates. It is the task of re-uniting Europe. We have made a promise to the candidates. This promise has two parts. One major part of the promise is to create the institutional conditions for enlargement. The other is to progress in the negotia- tions and, at the same time, to continue helping all candidate countries in their efforts to prepare for membership. This first part of the promise must be kept in Nice. We all know that Nice needs to take the necessary decisions to make the European Union ready for enlargement. We all know, as well, that there is a longer road that we will be travelling after Nice; the road to Europe's future. How this will look is yet unclear. I underlined the strength of the Community model which revolves around the institutional triangle of the Council, Parliament and the Commission. Any further reform must be firmly anchored in the Community System. We are just starting on this debate. But one thing is clear: We need an ambitious and positive result in Nice. Further reform can not be made a pre-condition for enlargement. The second part of the promise is to progress in the negotiations. That is why we are today proposing specific steps to accelerate the implementation of the Helsinki strategy. This requires, first of all, a serious analysis of the situation in all candidate countries. That analysis is part of the package the Commission has decided today. The thirteen individual Regular Reports prepared by the Commission analyse in depth the efforts made by each candi- date country over the last year to comply with the Copenhagen criteria. They serve as the basis for taking decisions on the conduct of the accession negotiations. As in previous years, the Regular Reports assess, in a fair and objective manner, the progress made by each applicant State. They draw on all the information available to the Commission, including the information supplied to us by Parliament and also by the Member States. They are a good example of what can be achieved through the Community method. The reports reflect the continuous daily work that has been going on in the candidate countries. In the past, by pointing out those areas where particular efforts are needed, these reports have made a positive contribution to the reform efforts undertaken by the various candidate countries. Our unique set of institutions is steadily contributing to a process of transition from centrally planned economies in communist-run states to stable democracies based on market economies. The analysis is largely positive. Where the political criteria are concerned, all negotiating countries have progressed and now meet the Copenhagen criteria. There are still a number of weaknesses such as judicial reform and corruption. On Turkey, the most encouraging element has been the enormous will of the government to progress on issues of human rigths and minorities. We note this positively. However, in order to meet Copenhagen criteria, intentions must now be followed by actions. The Accession Partnership for Turkey which we are proposing contains a number of precise elements identified as short and medium term priorities. This should help Turkey to progress towards meeting the political criteria. On the economic criteria we can again see progress. This is linked, first, to the condsiderable efforts to achieve structural adjustment in a number of candidate countries. Second, the generally positive economic climate is no longer marred by the Asian, Russian of Kosovo crisis or such disastrous events as the Turkish earthquake. Last, and certainly not least given the extent of trade integration, this economic progress is due to impressive within the European Union. The adoption of the acquis has also made relatively good progress in most candidate countries. In certain areas, such as environment and parts of the internal market, there is a clear acceleration in adopting legislation. In other areas, such as social policy, the pace has been slower. More worrying is that in a number of cases the necessary institutions and administrations for the implementation of the acquis have not been set up or are not sufficiently strong enough. To help the candidate countries continue preparing for membership, we are contributing to the pre-accession process with a considerable amount of aid. Over 3 billion Euro are reserved per year for the Central and Eastern European candidates in the PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programmes and Turkey has been allocated some 177 million Euro this year. The contribution for Cyprus and Malta is modest comparison, given thsir size and state of economic development. Further substantial sums are available through the EIB. This is the objective analysis of where the candidate countries stand in their preparations for accession, and of the efforts that the Community is making to help the candidate countries in this process. What follows this analysis? Time is ripe to give the enlargement negotiations a new momentum. This will honour the second part of our promise. How will we go about this? First, by proposing in the enlargement strategy paper an ambitious road map for the negotiations. This road map describes the steps that must be taken to conclude the negotiations. It also identifies priorities that should be dealt with by a certain date. Already in the last year's strategy paper, the Commission indicated that it should be possible to conclude negotiations with the most advanced candidates by the end of 2002. For the first half of 2001 we propose tackling major internal market chapters as free movement of goods and capital, company law and freedom to provide services. But we also want social affinars and environmental matters dealt with. In the second half of the year we aim to tackle such questions as energy and transport, competition, veterinery and phyto-sanitary questions, Justice and Home affairs. We propose dealing with most budget-related matters in the first half of 2002. A lot of work needs to be done. The strategy paper appeals to all Member States and candidate countries to come up with their positions within the identified priority schedules. Clearly, this will also mean dealing with any transitional measures that have been requested in the accession negotiations. So far, we have received more than 500 of these requests, most of them relating to agriculture. We propose classifying them in three rough categories: - acceptable, negotiable and unacceptable - and then analysing their effects on established community policies. In any case, enlargement must never create divisions within the European Union. We also make a number of practical suggestions on opening and closing chapters: suggestions designed to speed up the negotiations. In our strategy we do not identify candidate countries with which we might conclude negotiations by the end of 2002. Instead, we aclearly maintain the prin-ciple of differentation and the opportunity for any candidate to catch up with the rest. We do not impose a one-size-fits-all" timetable, as some candidates might consider this a straightjacket and might regard the deadlines as impossible to meet. Instead on the basis of a realistic but ambitious analysis, we have set out a road map for concluding negotiations by the end of 2002. As envisaged by the Helsinki European Council, this would allow us to welcome those Member States which meet all the criteria for membership, as soon as ratification of the Nice Treaty is concluded. Or, to quote your recent resolution on enlargement, we would be doing everything in our power to "ensure that the European Parliament can give its assent to the first accession treaties before the European Parliament elections in 2002, in order that these countries might have the prospect of participating in those elec- tions. This would allow us to keep the second part of our promise. Negotiations are not everything, espe- cially when we are talking about the momentous task of uniting our continent. We need democratic support. Accession treaties have to be ratified. You are part of the ratification process, as are the national parliaments of the present and fu- ture Member States. The citizens of the European Union need to be convinced of the benefits of enlargement. So do the citizens of the candidate countries. We are convinced that enlargement will benefit us. But we are also aware of the fears some people have. One way to counter them is to continue with our solide work. Speed and quality are the leitmotif of the negotiations. But many fears can only be countered by talking to the people and explaining what is to come. That is why our information and communication strategy is becoming more and more important. This is where you as Parliamentarians have another decisive role to play. Our neighbours and major international partners also need to be informed. After all, enlargement will bring enhanced security, stability and prosperity not only to the Union but to the wider international community. The Commission has today had the courage to come forward with an ambitious and realistic strategy for enlargement. It is the product of the Community method which has stood us in good stead over the past half century and will do so in the future when we are an even bigger and an even more influential Europe. ROMANO PRODI: "GENİŞLEME ÜZERİNE." Ben genişlemenin bu Komisyonun görevlerinden en önemlisi olduğunu her zaman vurgulamışımdır_ Bildiğiniz gibi, bu çok karmaşık bir konudur_ Sizin de güçlü ve sürekli desteğinizle, Komisyon bu konudaki görüşmelerle ilgili süreci şeffaf ve nesnel bir biçimde yürütmektedir_ Bu süreç yeni demokrasilerin çok büyük bir çaba göstermelerini gerektirmektedir_ Ancak bu çaba, bizim de politik açıdan aynı ölçüde verici bir tutum sergilememizi gerektirmekte. Bir kere, Birliğin kapılarını Ocak 2003'den önce bu yeni üyelere açmaya hazır olması şarttır_ Bence, bu konuda atılacak en önemli adım, Nice'de, sene sonundan önce, sistemimizin yozlaşmasını önleyecek nitelikteki bir kurumsal reformu gerçekleştirmektir_ Bu tutumla ilgili ikinci önemli nokta da, vatandaşlardan mümkün olduğu kadar yaygın destek sağlama gereğidir_ Bu tarihi görevimiz için demokratik destek sağlamaya çalışmak, bizim bu işlemi geciktirmek değil, gerçekleştirmek istediğimizin bir göstergesidir. Bu desteği sağlamanın yolu ise, üye ve aday ülkelerin her birinin kendi ulusal ve anayasal meselesidir ve Komisyon bu tartışmalara hiç bir şekilde karışmayacaktır_ Ancak, durumun önemini vatandaşlarımıza anlatmak için hepimiz üstümüze düşeni yapmalıyız_ Parlamentonun da, Komisyon kadar, genişlemenin bir tehlike değil, her açıdan tarihi bir fırsat olduğunu vatandaşlarımıza tekrar tekrar anlatmaya hazır olduğuna inanıyorum_ Komisyonun bu politikaya olan inancını paylaştığına emin olduğum Gunther VERHEUGEN'in, genişleme müzakerelerini seri ve başarılı bir sonuca götürecek bir lider olduğu konusunda inancım sonsuz. ARTIK HAREKETLER NİYETLERİ İZLEMEYE BAŞLAMALIDIR Komisyon ve Parlamento'nun kendi dönemlerinde ele alacakları en önemli konu genişlemek olacaktır. Adaylara bir söz verdik. Bu sözün önemli bir bölümü genişlemeyle ilgili mevzuat koşullarını yaratmak. Bir diğeriyse, aday ülkelere üye olma çabalarında yardımcı olmayı sürdürürken, görüşmelerde de ilerleme kaydetmek . Bu sözün ilk bölümü Nice'te yerine getirilmeli. İkinci bölümünün yerine getirilmesi ise, görüşmeler sırasında belli olacak. Her şeyden önce her aday ülkedeki durumun ciddi bir analizden geçirilmesi gerekmektedir. Analizin büyük bir bölümü olumlu sonuç vermiştir. Türkiye'de, en cesaretlendirici unsur, hükümetin insan hakları ve azınlıklar konusunda ilerleme kaydetmek için sergilediği güçlü niyet. Ancak, Kopenhag kriterlerine uyabilmek için niyetleri artık hareketlerin izlemesi gerekiyor... Ekonomik kriterler konusunda da ilerleme görüyoruz... Aday ülkeleri üyeliğe hazırlamak için önemli boyutlarda yardım yapıyoruz. Bu yıl Türkiye'ye 177 milyon Euro ayrılmış bulunuyor. Bu analizi ne izliyor ? Genişleme görüşmelerinin temposunu hzlandırmanın tam zamanı. Bu bizim sözümüzün ikinci bölümünü tutmamızı sağlayacak. Bunu nasıl yapacağız ? Önce genişleme stratejisi tebliğimizde görüşmeler için iddialı bir yol haritası önermek suretiyle. Bu stratejiyle "tek beden" bir zamanlama empoze etmiyoruz. Biz sadece yapılan gerçekçi fakat iddialı bir analizi temel alarak, 2002'nin sonunda görüşmelerin tamamlanmasını sağlayacak bir yol haritası çizmiş bulunuyoruz.. AB vatandaşlarının genişlemenin yararları konusunda ikna edilmeye ihtiyacı var. Aday ülke vatandaşlarının da..