Mr President, Commissioner, the subject of my report is the Czech Republic and its request to become a member of the European Union. Not only are the Czechs my immediate neighbours; as a citizen of Saxony, I sat in exactly the same boat as them, as it were, for decades. I should now like the Czechs to come back on board as soon as possible, this time in a boat which is solid and the course of which the Czechs can help plot. My good wishes apart, a report on the progress of the Czech Republic towards accession to the European Union must, of course, be as objective as possible. The objectivity of my report is certified by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy. Plus, the report has been enriched by contributions from my fellow members in all the groups, whom I thank. I was delighted that my report was adopted unanimously in committee on 14 September. The criticism levied by the European Commission in its regular report in 1999, was not enthusiastically received by the Czech Republic, but it understood that it was meant to be helpful. There has since been a push forward in the Czech Republic. There has been progress in the economic area. After a three-year recession, the economy has turned around. In central and eastern Europe, the Czech Republic has the second highest per capita income after Slovenia. As a result of clever fiscal policy, direct foreign investment topped EUR 5.45 billion last year. There were also positive developments in the privatisation of the banking system. As far as cause for criticism is concerned, as I state in my report, the European Parliament stresses the need to ensure a high standard of safety at nuclear facilities and to carry out the relevant environmental impact assessments. It also calls for the judiciary to be improved in order to address the problem of corruption, which the Commissioner has already discussed, and to achieve more secure rule of law. One problem specific to the Czech Republic, especially on the German-Czech border, is the problem of prostitution, especially child prostitution. This problem does not exist solely on the Czech side, it exists on both sides and it is therefore a problem which we must resolve jointly. There is still one point which crops up constantly when talk turns to the Czech Republic and that is the problem of the Roma. We acknowledged in committee that this problem is a complex social problem, including in the Czech Republic. Parliament supports the Czech Republic in continuing efforts to improve the standard of living of the Roma minority, but calls on the Czech Government to take further specific measures to integrate the Roma economically and socially. There is also a paragraph in my report dealing with the decrees of the Beneš government. We are delighted that the Czech government is prepared to review the decrees dating from 1945 and 1946 in order to ascertain whether they run counter to the EU law in force and the Copenhagen criteria. I should like to state quite clearly at this point that this is not some sort of attempt to rewrite history on our part. There is no question of that. It is Today and, more importantly, Tomorrow, which are at stake. What is important to me – and my colleagues in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy supported me here – is that the Copenhagen criteria, which the Czechs have also acknowledged, should continue to apply and I should like the Czechs themselves to review their own legal system, if necessary page by page, in order to ascertain if there are any laws which are discriminatory. We should not interfere, especially we Germans! (Applause) After the fall of the Communist system a decade ago, the Czech Republic underwent radical change which the majority of the people wanted and supported, but which also demanded huge effort and endeavour on their part. Numerous weaknesses still present in this country are the legacy of decades of dictatorship. In this respect, politicians from the part of Europe for which a happier fate was in store after the Second World War would do well to be sparing with their criticism of countries like the Czech Republic.

Political group: PPE-DE