Mr President, I thank the President-in-Office and the Commissioner for a helpful introduction to this debate and I congratulate the rapporteurs for their good work on the reports before us today. I also take this opportunity to welcome to this House the parliamentarians from the Liberal family in the applicant states who are watching this debate from the gallery and have joined us to debate the issues this week. That parliamentarians from Bulgaria and Romania are here today is a welcome reminder that we are negotiating enlargement with 12 applicant states, even if the timescales for accession may differ a little. Those of us from countries that were not founder members of the European Community remember only too well the anxiety and sense of expectation which surrounded our entry negotiations and the decisions to ratify our application. Coming from a country which had its application vetoed twice, I know of the enduring damage done to perceptions of European integration when a country is rejected. We should bear this in mind in assessing the current applicants. We must recognise that the applicant states have worked hard in recent years to reform their economies and consolidate democracy in order to join the Union. While we expect them to redouble their efforts in the run-up to and after accession, we must also reward those efforts. That is why Liberal Democrats insist that both the criteria and the timetable must be respected. We should not apply stricter standards than for previous enlargements, nor pretend that everything in our own gardens smells sweet. Enlargement is a process of continuous assessment, not a one-off exam. There are hotheads and faint hearts on both sides who will seek to exploit difficulties in meeting the Copenhagen criteria. We must not allow them to derail enlargement. It is far better to overcome outstanding problems through the enlargement process. What is important to the health of a country is the direction in which its face is set and the screening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms must be an ongoing process, part of a wider scrutiny of all Member States – old and new – in a European Union with the Charter of Fundamental Rights at its heart. Liberal Democrats deplore the abuse of enlargement negotiations to reopen old wounds and animosities. The infamous Beneš decrees are a good example of this. It serves no useful purpose to inflame tensions on this issue, which is why my group has tabled amendments to Mr Brok's report to seek to lower the temperature of the debate. The refusal of four governments – including Mr Murphy's – at the General Affairs Council this week to reach agreement on a common position on agriculture stems in part from the inadequacy of the financing package agreed in Berlin. We are constrained to live within Berlin's limits, but if a deal is postponed until autumn – as some propose – this would jeopardise the prospect of admitting new Member States in time for the European Parliament elections in 2004. We support the Commission's proposals to phase-in direct payments but, as soon as enlargement is agreed, we must take forward reform of the CAP. We need to shift the focus away from the producer onto the consumer, from quantity to quality. On the controversial issue of free movement of persons, I urge all Member States to follow the lead of Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands, which have said they will apply no restrictions to free movement. There are no rational grounds for believing that enlargement will be followed by the mass migration sometimes feared by our citizens. It is precisely these fears which we, as politicians, have to tackle head on. We have a responsibility to make the case for enlargement to our electorates and we must not shrink from that challenge. The adoption of the report to be voted on tomorrow will give the green light to enlargement. The historic prospect beckons of a wider, stronger Union – a bulwark for freedom and democracy in an uncertain world. Let ours not be the generation which flunks this opportunity. (Applause)

Political group: ELDR