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Hearing of Olli Rehn (Enlargement)

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Hearing of Olli Rehn (Enlargement) Hearing of Olli Rehn (Enlargement) Olli Rehn of Finland, who has been allocated the enlargement portfolio, had to field questions at his hearing on Monday about countries already in line for EU membership as well as those hopeful of joining the queue in future. Enlargement, he told MEPs, "is both a historic and practical challenge. We have to work hard and fairly on the practical problems, yet without losing the historic perspective", which is to "enlarge the zone of peace and democracy". On Bulgaria and Romania, two candidate countries with which negotiations are well on their way, Mr Rehn said in his introductory speech that their progress will be judged according to their individual merits. As regards Turkey, the European perspective should be maintained in order to reinforce the implementation of the current or imminent legal, political and economic reforms. At the same time, Turkey must fulfil the political Copenhagen criteria in the same way as other candidate countries. However, Mr Rehn said, one other important conclusion of Copenhagen should not be forgotten: the capacity of the EU to assimilate new members. For the Western Balkans the time had come, said the Commissioner-designate, to put more emphasis on socio-economic development. Another major challenge, he said, will be the rationalisation of the various activities of the EU in this region. Turkey In answer to questions by various MEPs, Mr Rehn said that Turkey had made enormous progress over the past few years, as with the reform of the penal code. The Turkish government practices zero-tolerance towards torture, as can be judged by the large number of cases tried on accusations of torture. There are still remnants of this practice to be eradicated, however, and therefore Mr Rehn would advocate stronger monitoring of human rights and civil liberties, should the European Council decide in December to open negotiations. Replying to José Ignacio SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ-NEYRA (EPP-ED, ES) and André BRIE (EUL/NGL, DE), the Commissioner-designate said that in view of the public opinion regarding the free movement of workers from Turkey, he personally felt there should be "considerable transitional periods as well as a permanent safeguard clause". To questions by Joost LAGENDIJK (Greens/EFA, NL) about the possibility, suggested by some, of open-ended negotiations, Mr Rehn said he didn't "believe in historic determinism" and that in a way all negotiations were open-ended. However, if negotiations were started with any country "underpinned by the commitment that it will be able to join (the EU) once it fulfils all conditions, it will join as soon as it does meet the conditions." The EU should keep its word. Asked if Turkey should respect the criteria to the full 100% and if this wasn't an impossible requirement, which no other candidate country had had to meet in the past, Mr Rehn remarked that at present 1,000 infringement procedures are running against the current Member States. The task is to ensure that each candidate country continues on the road to full political and economic reform. And that is what the Commission will do next Wednesday [when it publishes its report on Turkey's membership application - ed.]. In reaction to concerns raised by Bas BELDER (IND/DEM, NL) as regards the position of Christian churches in Turkey, the Commissioner-designate said the right to practise religion in all freedom had greatly improved. He admitted, however, that churches still had problems obtaining legal personality and authorisation to train priests. Replying to Alexander Graf LAMBSDORFF (ALDE, DE), who was concerned about remarks by Turkish prime minister Erdogan that negotiations should take no longer than five to seven years, Mr Rehn referred to the many years it took to negotiate the accession of Portugal and Greece and that of the latest ten newcomers. He saw no reason why negotiations with Turkey would be easier. In any event, he said, "what is important is the content of the negotiations and not the time-table". When asked by João de DEUS PINHERIO (EPP-ED, PT) about the model that will be followed for the accession negotiations with Turkey, Mr Rehn remarked that they would draw on the experience of the last round of accession negotiations, which had clearly shown the need to focus on actual implementation and not merely on commitments. In reply to a question from Véronique DE KEYSER (PES, BE) as to the "explosive" financial consequences of Turkey's accession for EU agricultural and structural policies, Mr Rehn stated that in the first phase of accession negotiations there is always a lot of drama and exaggeration regarding the costs of absorbing new Member States. He pointed out that one could end up with different outcomes depending on the assumptions that the calculations were based on. Mr Rehn reminded MEPs that it was the European Union, which was in charge of the negotiations with Turkey, and that it was up to the EU to determine how to deal with the agricultural and structural policies. Regarding a possible referendum in France with respect to the accession of Turkey, Mr Rehn stated that he welcomed public debate on enlargement. He stressed that the ratification process for accession treaties varied between Member States. Cyprus In reply to a question by Panagiotis BEGLITIS (PES, GR) on a draft regulation for aid to Turkish Cyprus, the Commissioner-designate said that according to the Commission's legal service Article 133 of the Treaty was the proper legal base. More generally, Mr Rehn said that the Commission will do all it possibly can to achieve a solution for Cyprus, but that "it takes two to tango" and that the main responsibility lies with the Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus. In reply to a remark by Athanasios PAFILIS (GUE/NGL, GR) that Turkey was "occupying 38% of an EU Member State", Mr Rehn stated that he did not wish to anticipate events on Wednesday but that it was up to the EU Council to decide on the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey. He continued by saying that in the event that accession negotiations with Turkey were to be opened, these would be conducted on an inter-governmental basis and that all 26 governments had to take a constructive approach to resolve all problems. With respect to the setback, last Spring, to Kofi Annan's proposal concerning the reunification of Cyprus, Mr Rehn stated that it would be wrong to punish the Turkish government for its support for Kofi Annan's proposed solution - a solution which the EU had also backed. The Commission was determined to do its utmost to contribute to the political and economic reunification of Cyprus. Romania and Bulgaria Answering various MEPs, Mr Rehn insisted several times that Romania and Bulgaria should be assessed on their readiness to join the EU on their own merits. Elaborating on the role of the Commission between the signing of the accession treaty and actual accession of Romania and Bulgaria, Mr Rehn stated that the Commission would continue to monitor progress with respect to the two countries and emphasised that he would not hesitate to invoke the safeguard clause to delay accession by one year if it were established that EU standards were not met in full. With respect to the conclusion of negotiations with Romania, Mr Rehn stated that he would do his best to ensure that the planned timetable would be met, so that signature takes place in 2005 and accession in 2007. Western Balkans Mr Rehn saw achieving stability and peace in the Western Balkans as one of his prime tasks for the next five years and one he would perhaps be most proud of. Answering a question by Jan Marinus WIERSMA (PES, NL), he said he hoped to put a pre-accession strategy or more stabilisation and association agreements into place. To a question from Angelika BEER (Greens/EFA, DE) regarding the strategy the EU should adopt toward Kosovo, Mr Rehn referred to the crucial moment in 2005 when a decision on how to proceed on the status of Kosovo would be taken. With respect to elections in Kosovo, Mr Rehn stated that, although aware of the low turnout at the elections, he had been informed that the conduct of the elections had been fair and that no major shortcomings had been observed. When pressed by Johannes SWOBODA (PES, AT) whether setbacks in the Balkans should be addressed more severely, including by curtailing financial and political support, Mr Rehn distinguished between cases where non-fulfilment of criteria was due to lack of capacity- building and cases were there was no political will to make progress. He agreed that in the latter cases pressure to secure further progress should be more severe and involve the cutting of financial assistance. Ukraine In reply to questions by Anna Elzbieta FOTYGA (UEN, PL), Marek Aleksander CZARNECKI (NA, PL) and Charles TANNOCK (EPP-ED, UK) regarding Ukraine and its European perspective, Mr Rehn referred to the Commission's new neighbourhood policy, which is an extremely important process and is linked to a country's ability to meet European standards. "We shouldn't kill Ukraine's hopes, but nor should we raise false hopes", Mr Rehn added. Final borders of the EU Asked by André BRIE (EUL/NGL, D) if EU enlargement was a finite process, Mr Rehn referred to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, saying that if a European state "has a vocation to become a member of the Union and is committed to European values, i.e. democracy, the rule of law, human rights, the protection of minorities, a functioning market economy, and if it is able to take on the obligations of membership, it should be accepted as a candidate." The eligibility of other countries to become candidates for EU membership, should not be judged on geographical aspects alone, but also on cultural aspects and historical commitments.
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