(30/04/04) Uitbreiding is win-winsituatie

• 2004-04-30

The EU grows to 25: Enlargement is a win-win situation for Europe!

Commenting on the imminent enlargement of the European Union on 1 May, Monica Frassoni and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-Presidents of the Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament, said:
"Tomorrow we have a date with history. The fifth enlargement in the Union's history will change the face of our continent. The European unification that we are about to witness is a consequence of Central and Eastern Europe's fight against totalitarism, as post-war Europe was the a product of western Europe's fight against fascism. The founding ideas of our Union are democracy and anti-totalitarianism."

"The reform process in the acceding countries has already made great progress, but it must continue energetically after 1 May. Reforms to administrative and justice systems and the full application of European standards, particularly in the field of food security, have to be rapidly implemented. Corruption must be combated and discrimination against minorities has to end. In particular, all efforts must be undertaken for the full social and economic integration of the Roma."

"We state clearly: enlargement is a win-win situation for Europe. The winner is the European environment, benefiting from the application of higher standards of environmental protection. The winner is European security, benefiting from the help we can give to the ex-Communist countries to overcome their political and economic instability and to strengthen the rule of law and civil rights. The winner is also the European economy benefiting from the removal of borders and increased business and trade relations."

"Consequently, the Greens have also advocated applying the solidarity principle for the funding of enlargement. The costs – often criticised as being too high – are much lower than the economic benefit the existing EU members will gain from enlargement. The costs of enlargement are also much lower than the cost of the Marshall Plan, which helped to get Western Europe back on its feet after the Second World War."

"One remaining problem is that Member States have been incapable of achieving the deepening needed for the effective widening of the Union. We are talking not only about the adoption of the EU constitution or the abolition of veto rights. It is about the Union of 15 having proved incapable – due to narrow national interests – to reform the essential but expensive agricultural and structural policies, among other issues. The Greens' declared goal is to overcome the problem of conflicting national interests and strengthen the idea of a shared European interest in the enlarged Union."