EUROPA NA DEFENSIVA

Les « relations proches » prennent le pas sur l’élargissement 

Publié: jeudi 10 juillet 2008   

Lors de sa séance plénière du 9 juillet, le Parlement européen a débattu d’un rapport qui aborde la stratégie d’élargissement du bloc au cours des prochaines années. Mais les différentes initiatives du texte visant à renforcer les relations plus proches avec les voisins semblent être destinées à se substituer à l’élargissement de fait. 

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The debate conveyed the message that the EU, after it takes Croatia on board, will need a period of "internal consolidation". Tellingly, the name of candidate country Turkey was almost absent in the text of the report, due to be adopted today (10 July). In fact, it was cited only in the context of establishing a Union of the Black Sea, whereas ongoing accession negotiations were not even mentioned. 

Indeed, both in the text - recently adopted by the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on the basis of a report by Elmar Brok (EPP-ED, Germany) (EurActiv 26/06/08) - and in the discussions, more space was dedicated to the Eastern neighbours. MEPs from Eastern Europe strongly advocated for the EU accession of Ukraine in particular. 

Elmar Brok said the EU needed to develop "something between the European neighbourhood policy and full-fledged membership". Then, on this basis, in each individual case it would be possible to envisage full membership, he explained. 

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn reacted to this, saying that with regard to the Western Balkans and Turkey, the Union should not impose any new intermediate stages. This would only "create doubts" among the countries already to the path to accession.  

"The EU keeps its word," added Rehn. 

Belgian MEP Veronique De Keyser (PES) said the report was not a strategy for enlargement, but rather a "defensive strategy". She warned of the risk of an "introverted approach" by countries in the Western Balkans and Turkey, where disappointment could breed hostility toward the Union. 

Adrian Severin MEP (PES, Romania) was even more outspoken and said that in the absence or real enlargement perspective, countries like Ukraine and Moldova could gravitate toward Russia. 

"We have competitors. Our digestive system is too slow," Severin stated. 

Liens

Documents officiels de l'UE

• European Parliament: Elmar Brok: Report on the 2007 Commission’s Enlargement strategy paper
• European Commission: Commission’s 2007 Enlargement Strategy paper

Lettres à l'éditeur

 

Europeans deserve a more democratic and transparent EU

Bettina Schwarzmayr, President, European Youth Forum

Lisbon Treaty’s failure not an Irish problem

Ben Tonra, Professor, UCD Dublin