Mr President, this is in truth an historic day. I feel proud to be able to stand here in the Chamber on this solemn occasion when we are voting in favour of ten new countries’ being invited to become members of our European Community. It is an historic day for Europe. For the first time, we are uniting almost the whole of the continent by peaceful means – through agreements, compromises and treaties, rather than through war and conquest. It is an historic day for the European Parliament, which for so long has supported and given impetus to the whole enlargement process. The number of Member States is to increase from 15 to 25, and the number of MEPs from 626 to 732. In just a month’s time, when our future fellow MEPs come here as observers, we shall be given an initial foretaste of what this will be like. It is an historic day too for the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party. We have been passionately committed to enlargement. As long as three years ago, we began inviting future MEPs here as ‘virtual MEPs’ so that they might become familiar with our work here in Parliament. Perhaps we are the only group in Parliament that is unanimously and enthusiastically voting in favour of all ten countries, a fact I am very proud of. We shall be pleased to welcome our friends as fellow MEPs in order to be able to work together with them for a better future for the people of Europe. A unified Europe will give us incredible opportunities to work for peace, stability and democracy throughout the continent, to combat environmental pollution and cross-border crime and to increase the prosperity of all our people. The new countries will bring fresh and novel perspectives and ideas to bear in order to improve cooperation and give it new impetus. To help us do this, the Convention will, moreover, give us a constitution within the institutional framework. Despite the fact that matters may be rather chaotic to begin with, something extremely good will emerge if we only have patience. There is a famous Swedish poem that includes the words ‘chaos is God’s neighbour’, and that is something that rings true today. The EU will be involved in a constant process of enlargement for many years to come, so it is just as well that we get used to the idea. In common with other MEPs, we are naturally anxious about the débâcle involving the way in which the Council dealt with the budget and the interinstitutional agreement. I want to thank those fellow MEPs who have enabled us to find a solution. It has never been possible, however, to use such matters as arguments for voting against the accession of the candidate countries. Even if we deplore the fact that we in Europe have not been able to agree upon a common policy where the Iraq crisis is concerned, it would have been profoundly immoral to hold the people of the candidate countries hostage on account of what their governments have said or done. How can we expect the candidate countries to support an EU policy when no such policy exists? Despite the fact that we are all voting ‘yes’ today, we are not uncritical. There are still a number of problems and shortcomings in the candidate countries, for example when it comes to respect for minorities and the fight against corruption. That is something emphasised by Commissioner Vanheugen. We also deeply regret the fact that it was impossible to reach an agreement on Cyprus, so that a unified island might have joined the EU. We take it for granted that all the candidate countries will use the time remaining before they become full members to tackle environmental issues, to work on improving legal certainty and the protection of minorities, to fight corruption more effectively and to make efforts to combat the high incidence of human trafficking. Following enlargement, we expect to see mechanisms devised for making sure that all the Member States, new as well as old, respect and comply with the values for which the EU stands. Liberals will never be silent wherever violations of human rights and the rule of law are committed.

Political group: ELDR