Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, I am able to report to you today on the conclusion of a successful process. Latvia has satisfied the conditions for membership of the European Union. I am not the one who should be applauded today for this success. It is our colleagues in the Latvian parliaments, it is the Latvian Government, it is the people in the Latvian administrations, and it is the population of Latvia whom we ought to congratulate on a magnificent marathon of adapting legislation and preparing for membership of the European Union. I have simply had the honour of being able to have a part in this success story and of accompanying it a short way emotionally. For that, I would like to take this opportunity of thanking my colleagues in the Saeima, the government representatives, administrations and the people of Riga, Liepaja and Letgale. That is to name only a few, but there are many more who took time to discuss with me the best way of shaping this accession process. It is they who had to cope with a really painful adjustment process, and they did so with no concern to protect vested rights. Everything was called into question; everything was examined to see whether it was suitable for integration into the European Union. So the one thing I can recommend is that you vote for Latvia’s accession to the European Union. What is true of other candidate countries is also true of Latvia. Here, too, there is criticism that important things still have to be made perfect. I am thinking of the need to strengthen the administration at regional level in particular, so that it can carry out its tasks in enforcing the acquis. I am thinking of the fact that more still needs to be done to make the judicial system work better; I would also like to see the programme for integrating the Russian-speaking population pursued with greater enthusiasm and the obstacles to citizenship lowered. Nevertheless, we do not want to deprive ourselves of joining with Latvia, its culture, its language and its willingness to reform, because that is also a gain for us. But, and here I agree with some of the previous speakers, the problem we have with this enlargement lies with us. Let us take a look at ourselves here in the European Union. What has happened to the enthusiasm for institutional reform? Where is the enthusiasm for agricultural policy reform? What has become of the courage to reform the Structural Funds? Where is the courage to tell the public that we have to stop protecting vested interests if we are to reshape a successful Union? What has become of the honesty involved in admitting that reforms sometimes hurt? The twenty-five of us must look for new ways together, and I am convinced that it is not Latvia that is putting the brake on, but that we are applying it here. We must not put the blame on Latvia and the population there simply because the Union is too lethargic to shape this historic process, because Latvia was willing to reform whilst we were not. That is why we must also see to it that changes are made here, and I am convinced that Latvia's experience, enthusiasm and courage can help us in this. If Latvia becomes a member of the European Union, if its enthusiastic and youthful population becomes part of the European Union, it will also be part of the engine driving forward reform here in the European Union. I am highly optimistic about this. In conclusion, I would like to address a quite personal word to you. For me personally, today sees a wish come true, namely that our friends the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, who gave us in the GDR the courage to change, will be able to join us and will be able to help us shape Europe. To them, too, we owe the unification of Germany. We should not forget that, and I would like to say that in particular to those of my fellow Members who are thinking of not voting for the Czech Republic’s accession. We owe our neighbouring countries a great debt of gratitude. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE