Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioners, I should like first and foremost to say one thing about the Belder report: it is an excellent report, a serious and very important report and it has my full support. It is based on fundamental European values which, per se, vehemently oppose racism, xenophobia and antisemitism. I think that only if we base our position on these fundamental values inside the European Union are we entitled to criticise others outside the Union, in places where these fundamental values are violated. That is why I believe that this debate, which is being conducted in connection with the Austrian government, provided that it is a serious debate, is extremely important, because its precise aim is to struggle for these fundamental European values and stand up for them, both at home and abroad. There are various sections of the population in the candidate countries, in the candidate countries, which merit our particular attention. The first which I should like to mention are the Roma and Sinti; they represent a very large section of the population and we must seriously consider how they can be sensibly integrated into society. We must also admit that there is a problem in this regard because the Roma and Sinti themselves have different conceptions of how this integration can function. But we must help them with training. We must help them find jobs and we must do a great deal of educational work so that what happened recently, the literal immuration and separation of the Roma and Sinti from the rest of the inhabitants in the community, is never repeated. The second group which I should like to mention are the Kurds. Turkey, which is a candidate country even if we are not yet negotiating with it, recognises no minorities, not even the Kurdish minority. I consider this stance to be wrong and one which contradicts the declarations of the Council of Europe. But even if the Kurds are not recognised as a minority and Turkey is not prepared to grant them any collective rights, it must acknowledge that it is violating the Kurds’ individual rights and their cultural freedom, their freedom of expression as well as their economic freedoms and rights. I therefore think it extremely important that we help the Kurds gain their rights in a reasonable and peaceful manner. The Belder report also states this unequivocally. The third group which I should like to make special mention of is to be found mainly in Estonia and Latvia. I refer to the Russian-speaking minorities. I understand many of the arguments which I have heard in the Baltic states, namely how difficult it is simply to treat as equals and accept minorities which are not native but which came as an occupying force. There are many emotional obstacles to this and yet it is important to take these steps and some have certainly been taken. But they must be persevered with and the past, in other words what was done to these minorities by the occupying forces, must be overcome so that a new common future can be built in the Baltic states together with the Russian-speaking minorities. The Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia will open in Vienna on 7 April. I personally have asked the President of the European Parliament on behalf of my Group to ensure that this date is adhered to because, objectively-speaking, I consider it to be a very important date, irrespective of the current situation in Austria. I hope that this institution will not only be supported and will attract a great deal of publicity and attention on the day of its inauguration, but that Parliament, the Council and the Commission will actively support it in years to come.

Political group: PSE