Mr President, Commissioner, I rise to express the warmth and optimism with which the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party welcomes the start of negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. We are extremely hopeful that, along the lines set out by the rapporteur, Mr Swoboda, this agreement can represent an example to be rapidly extended to the other countries, especially Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Kosovo and, as soon as possible, Serbia. We are convinced a rapid start to these negotiations and their speedy conclusion is the only way to achieve peace in the region – peace which did not automatically come with the end of the Kosovo war – thus avoiding the recurrence of further disintegration and a return to chaos and violence, with all the consequences of that in terms of continental, if not world, instability. If the maintenance of peace and security is the basic motivation of the current courageous process of enlargement of the Union to the countries of Eastern Europe, that motivation must be present even more strongly in relations with Albania and the countries of former Yugoslavia. And that means decisively pursuing the kind of parallel enlargement to south-east Europe that the agreements we are discussing represent. It is in that quasi-provocative spirit that we have presented an amendment suggesting the transfer of responsibility for south-east Europe from Foreign Affairs to Enlargement. Very rapid and direct involvement of south-east Europe in the life of the European institutions has also led us to suggest that a limited number of observers invited from the national parliaments should be accepted into the European Parliament, and that staff from those countries could work in the Court of Justice and the Commission. But if the development in the region of a more democratic society and largely market-based economy is to be encouraged, we are convinced that immediate and concrete steps must be taken to intensify the struggle against corruption and to make international aid more effective for reconstruction and development. With this in mind, we have presented some amendments which I hope Parliament will accept. First, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should be offered a customs tariff equal to zero for their exports to the European Union and compensation for the progressive reduction of customs duties applied by Macedonia to European products, on condition that the principle of joint customs control at the frontiers of Macedonia is accepted. Secondly, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should be encouraged, with adequate financial support, to gradually link its currency to the euro as the first step towards the Europeanisation of the whole Macedonian economy, with the additional aim of eliminating any possible corruption in the banking system. Thirdly, world aid and assistance coming into the region, and hence into Macedonia as well, should be clearly multilateral, and should not subject the beneficiary country to direct obligations towards the donor country. Mr President, Commissioner, we hope the agreement can achieve all its objectives but we cannot delude ourselves that peace, stability and prosperity in south-east Europe can be achieved without dealing with the very wide-ranging problems we are trying to eliminate. I am referring to the future constitutional state of Kosovo, the need to involve Serbia in the region’s reconciliation process and – why not? – new discussions on relations between the European Union, NATO and the UN, in the light of the new balance that needs to be found between humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty, which I think calls for a change in the existing UN Charter.

Political group: ELDR