Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, especially our dear friends in the candidate countries who are keenly observing our decision today, I have been involved in the enlargement process ever since I became a Member of the European Parliament. I have helped to shape it in a great variety of capacities – as Chairman of the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee, now as Chairman of the EU-Czech Republic Committee and as rapporteur for Malta. Like all of us, I am witnessing an historic process that will change the EU permanently. Never before has there been an enlargement on this scale, with ten new countries of Central, Northern and Southern Europe. Parliament was therefore right to be mindful, even before the Council and Commission were, that Europe should not again be divided and that each candidate country should be considered individually on the basis of the progress each has made. I am pleased that today I, together with the entire Austrian People’s Party delegation, can give our assent to the results of Copenhagen in the Brok report and to all the candidate countries. Let me first, as rapporteur, give my reasons for assenting to Malta’s accession application. This small island state is a country in an exposed geopolitical position, one that has been profoundly marked by European culture and history. Like all the candidate countries, Malta, too, has had to make far-reaching political and economic decisions in order to meet the Copenhagen criteria. That has, however, resulted and is resulting in a modernisation of the economic and social structures of a country that has made and will make the leap from a sheltered island society to a social economy able to face competition in the European internal market. In this, the European Union has shown Malta understanding and generosity with, for example, transitional periods in such sensitive areas as shipyards, second residences, even in the question of its desired tax exemptions and of course also with the possibility of agricultural subsidies. Malta has recognised this opportunity. It was the first country to hold a referendum, with an extraordinary turnout, voting 53% in favour of EU accession. But that referendum is not binding. The Accession Treaty still needs to be ratified in parliament. The forthcoming election on 12 April will decide whether there will be a parliamentary majority in favour of it. As rapporteur, I have always tried to avoid interfering in the country’s internal political decisions. That is still my position and I do not in any way want to anticipate how the Maltese people will vote in this election. Let me just say this much: we in the European Parliament have always supported Malta’s application to join the EU and we welcomed the fact that the application, which had been suspended for two years, was renewed in September 1998 and that the Helsinki European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Malta. It is a unique opportunity for Malta. There will not be a second opportunity of this kind. I very much hope that we will be able to welcome Malta as an EU member on 1 May 2004. The enlargement of the EU to take in the Baltic States also has a Northern and a Central European dimension, however. I am speaking now as an Austrian. Today, our country has the longest external border in the Union and yet we lie at the centre of Europe. Enlargement moves Austria from a position on the edge of the EU to its centre, the centre of an area from which we Austrians in particular can expect economic stimuli, growth and employment. The Austrian People’s Party has always supported the European Union and its enlargement. Today, through the delegation to which I belong, and through the Austrian federal government at the summit in Athens, it will be voting in favour of this enlargement. We are not looking only for economic advantages from this enlargement, however. As Chairman of the EU-Poland and EU-Czech Republic Joint Committees, I have always stressed this. This enlargement is a reunification of Europe. Above all, we are looking for good neighbourly relations with the countries with which we were associated historically for hundreds of years and from which we were separated as a result of two World Wars and the cruel division of Europe in the Cold War. I am not taking it for granted that we will be able to solve all our problems with our neighbours as soon as they have joined, but we shall certainly be able to resolve them better and more easily when they have done so. That is why I am canvassing for assent for all the candidate countries and asking Parliament to give that assent. It will be an important historical act, an act that will also help us to come to terms with the past and to make it easier for our neighbour the Czech Republic to make the gestures we expect of it. I am confident that we can count on such gestures, especially after what Czech Vice-Premier Mareš said to our group yesterday. I am canvassing towards this end on behalf of my delegation and give its assent, in the European Parliament, to the accession applications of the ten candidate countries. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE