Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as was laid down in Zagreb and only very recently reconfirmed in Thessaloniki, each of the countries of South-Eastern Europe has its own individual prospect for accession. It follows that we are right to adopt the strategy of commencing negotiations towards a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with each country one at a time. It also follows, however, that preparations for accession are primarily in the hands of the governments in those countries. While all the countries listed in the report have problems specific to themselves, there is much that is, more or less, in equally poor shape in all of them. That is why they have to join with us in stepping up the fight against trafficking in human beings, which actually amounts to trafficking in women. They have to combat crime, arms dealing and corruption. Their justice systems are developed to differing degrees, ranging from the just about acceptable to the utterly inadequate. Education and training are key areas in which these countries also have to make progress or else have no future, as their young people will otherwise leave. No satisfactory solution has yet been found to the problem of refugees returning to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Hardly any of the Croats expelled from the Republika Srpska are returning to it, which makes the return of Serbs to Croatia and the restoration of their property there more difficult. A creditable number of Serbs are returning to Croatia, but implementing the restoration of property to Croatia’s Serbs is still not progressing in a satisfactory way. There is, moreover, a great deal of anti-Serb sentiment in several regions, especially in the hinterland of Zadar, and this results in major problems on the ground. In contrast, co-existence in Eastern Slavonia around Vukovar is characterised to a much greater degree by cooperation. There is a good law on minorities, which community leaders must now put into practice. Croatia is cooperating properly with The Hague; even archive documents have been handed over to the tribunal. Indeed, it was in Croatia itself that three accused persons, including a General, received lengthy jail sentences. One accused person, General Gotovina, is on the run. Let us not ask for the impossible; the state has offered a reward for his capture, but so far have not managed to track him down. He is a member of the French Foreign Legion and holds a French passport; heaven knows where he is now. If the international community could not get its hands on Karadzic or Mladic despite SFOR having been present in Bosnia-Herzegovina for seven years, then we should not, in this regard, apply the wrong standard to the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina and to the Croats. Serbia and Montenegro have demonstrated their willingness to cooperate with The Hague. Things could get even better. They handed Milosevic over, thank God, as well as the three butchers of Vukovar, but many more are still awaiting extradition. It is in Serbia’s interests to be allowed to sentence some war criminals in Serbia itself. It would help the Serbs’ understanding of the situation if the KLA leadership were also, at last, to stand trial in The Hague for their crimes. There is an absolute need for improvements in the poor economic state of much of the region, and so the CARDS programme must facilitate more infrastructural measures than before, or else there will be no recovery there. There have been improvements in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s development at State level, but there are still many deficits. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that the High Representative does not always make use of the powers he possesses. The metaphorical sword of Damocles hanging over Bosnia-Herzegovina would be unnecessary if the EU were – as Commissioner Vitorino has just said – to make demands that Bosnia-Herzegovina can actually meet. I ought also to say something about Albania, but I shall skip that; everything is in the report, and I assume that everyone has read it. My congratulations to Mr Lagendijk.

Political group: PPE-DE