Rehn: Enlargement mustn't be scapegoat
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says that the battle to get out of economic recession “cannot make a scapegoat out of enlargement.”
Thursday, 11.06.2009.
10:52
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says that the battle to get out of economic recession “cannot make a scapegoat out of enlargement.” “Calling into question our promises on the existing timetable of accession of new member-states will not help us deal with the economic crisis,” Rehn said in Brussels, addressing the EU’s Economic-Social Committee. Rehn: Enlargement mustn't be scapegoat “In the conditions of today’s economic crisis, which is threatening jobs and prosperity in Europe, some say that the accession of new states to the EU will have to wait and that the EU must turn in on itself for some time,” Rehn said on the fifth anniversary of the enlargement of 2004, when ten new member-states entered the union. He said that “European economic problems were not created by workers in the Czech auto industry or Serbian clerks, they are a consequence of the systematic mistakes of financial capitalism created in Wall Street, and not on the streets of Prague and Belgrade.” “We have to debunk myths with facts, and we must banish the concerns of our citizens with effective economic policies,” the commissioner underlined. He said that the EU must restructure from the inside and adopt the Lisbon Treaty, because harmonizing the further strengthening of the EU with its gradual enlargement was “the best recipe for building a strong and united Europe.” The enlargement commissioner said that facts testified that recent enlargement had been very beneficial for both “old” and “new” member-states in economic terms, expanding trade and boosting industrial growth, as well as strengthening democracy and freedom. He called for a strengthening of civil society organizations in the Western Balkans and in Turkey, stating that these organizations had helped strengthen democracy, protect human rights, and administer public works and the rule of law. These organizations, according to Rehn, “together with independent media, have been able to overcome nationalism and fundamentalism and help build inter-ethnic trust.” Olli Rehn (Beta, archive)
Rehn: Enlargement mustn't be scapegoat
“In the conditions of today’s economic crisis, which is threatening jobs and prosperity in Europe, some say that the accession of new states to the EU will have to wait and that the EU must turn in on itself for some time,” Rehn said on the fifth anniversary of the enlargement of 2004, when ten new member-states entered the union.He said that “European economic problems were not created by workers in the Czech auto industry or Serbian clerks, they are a consequence of the systematic mistakes of financial capitalism created in Wall Street, and not on the streets of Prague and Belgrade.”
“We have to debunk myths with facts, and we must banish the concerns of our citizens with effective economic policies,” the commissioner underlined.
He said that the EU must restructure from the inside and adopt the Lisbon Treaty, because harmonizing the further strengthening of the EU with its gradual enlargement was “the best recipe for building a strong and united Europe.”
The enlargement commissioner said that facts testified that recent enlargement had been very beneficial for both “old” and “new” member-states in economic terms, expanding trade and boosting industrial growth, as well as strengthening democracy and freedom.
He called for a strengthening of civil society organizations in the Western Balkans and in Turkey, stating that these organizations had helped strengthen democracy, protect human rights, and administer public works and the rule of law.
These organizations, according to Rehn, “together with independent media, have been able to overcome nationalism and fundamentalism and help build inter-ethnic trust.”
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