20 Amendments of Adrian SEVERIN related to 2012/2025(INI)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas enlargement has been part of the EU agenda since as early as the 1960s; whereas since the first enlargement in 1973, the EU has grown gradually, its membership rising from the six founding members to the current 27 (soon to be 28); whereas a number of countries still aspire to become EU members, as a guarantee for a secure, democratic and prosperous future;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas 20 years after the Copenhagen summit the moment has come for a general re-evaluation of the accession criteria, of the established procedures and of enlargement policy as a whole; whereas Parliament contributes to improving the transparency and accountability of enlargement and thereby increasing public support for this process, both within Member States and within candidate or potential candidate countries; whereas the division among public opinion in Croatia concerning EU accession, a situation eventually decided by referendum, shows that candidate countries must not feel discriminated in relation to the EU Member States;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas each country has to be judged on its own merits in fulfilling the same set of criteria; whereas the pace of the accession process should be dictated by effective compliance with the accession criteria, as well as fulfilment of the priorities of the Accession Partnership and the negotiating framework; whereas the degree of compliance with the requirements for membership has to be assessed in the most fair and transparent fashion; whereas the perception of politically motivated division lines between founding states and new member states can limit societal mobilisation in the candidate and potential candidate countries to accomplish the accession conditions;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Strongly believes that enlargement needs to continue to be a credible and long term policy; considers it, therefore, important for the EU to fulfil, within a reasonable timeframe, the promises already made and to create the conditions for ensuring that future enlargements are successful;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that the EU continues to be attractive, also because of its unique combination of economic dynamism with a social model, and regrets that this social dimension has been largely neglected in the enlargement process; invites the Commission to reflect on possible options, including developing a set of social criteria, to address this deficiency and foster positive social transformation in the future EU Member States; stresses that failure to comply with the EU's common basic social standards constitutes a form of social dumping which is detrimental to European enterprises and workers; also stresses that maintaining big gaps between Member States and candidate countries, or even increasing them, weakens the social and the political cohesion; mentions that the perspective of building a European demos is endangered not so much by cultural differences, but by social gaps;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Takes also the view that, within the enlargement process, the EU should make the distinction between the performance criteria that should and could be fulfilled better and/or faster before accession and the performance criteria that could be better and/or faster fulfilled after accession without hindering the EU internal macro-equilibriums; to this end, the EU must acknowledge that the acceding states cannot have the same level of development and performance as the already existing Member States, and therefore it has to request from the former a no bigger performance progress than the one necessary for a basic legislative, social, economic and institutional compatibility and interoperability between the acceding and the old Member States;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Considers it essential, in order to safeguard the post-accession integration within the Union, that by each accession treaty the Commission receives the power to monitor the Member States, both old and new ones, for a period of at least five years following every new EU accession event, as far as their compliance with the Copenhagen criteria, the basic principles of the economic, social and territorial cohesion and the obligation of cooperation in good faith among them are concerned; believes that in case of breaches related to the monitored obligations, the Commission must have the means to enhance appropriate measures going up to the suspension of the right of vote for a limited time; this post-enlargement mechanism may not be construed in a way which would grant the EU institutions more powers in relation with the new Member States than with the other members through the accession treaties or bilateral agreements;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that, in order to maintain the credibility of the enlargement process, the EU's integration capacity should be evaluated at an early stage and should be properly considered in the Commission's ‘opinion’ for each potential candidate state, outlining the major concerns in this regard; is of the view that a comprehensive impact assessment should then follow; insists that, if for objective reasons, the accession process of a certain state runs over an exceptionally long period of time, in order to certify its credibility and keep its dynamic, the EU may proceed with a gradual accession by granting the respective candidate state an interim status, which might go as far as sharing the policies and resources, as well as granting consultative voting rights in the decision making process of the institutions;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers it important to give adequate priority within enlargement policy to the building of an efficient, independent and impartial judicial system that can strengthen the citizens' confidence in the rule of law; underlines, at the same time, the need to ensure freedom of the media in law and in practice, as well as to effectively fight corruption and organised crime; is of the view that in doing that, the Commission must approach only questions of legislation and of institutional construction, in order to avoid politicking and personalizing the corruption issue; the Commission must avoid the transformation of the fight against corruption into a means for settling the political rivalries within the candidate states while acknowledging the transnational character of corruption and organized crime, sometimes involving the Member States as well;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages greater participation by civil society and non-state actors in the accession process; stresses that civil society can work as an engine of approximation with the EU and create bottom-up pressure for the implementation of the European agenda; regards it essential that a structured dialogue between the Commission and all relevant bodies / structures of the candidate states' civil society (trade unions, professional NGOs, SMEs etc), is organized as a distinct dimension of the accession negotiations, in order to ensure the appropriate European integration at the societal level and the popular acceptance for the accession arrangements; within this context, is of the opinion that the involvement of civil society in the accession process can be a success only if NGOs act transparently and in a non- partisan manner, avoiding to become pseudo-parties or vehicles of national or transnational economic interest groups; calls for additional financial support, inter alia via the Civil Society Facility;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Emphasizes that, in order to avoid post accession social tensions and/or socio-economic imbalances within the enlarged Union, the Commission must promote pre-accession policies aimed at mitigating the structural social inequities, as well as to overcome the cultural cleavages within the acceding states prior to the time of accession; is of the view that the national integration of social and cultural minorities should be considered a priority, thus preventing their post accession mass displacement towards other Member States;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Reiterates its position that bilateral issues should not represent or be used as an obstacle in the accession process, but should be addressed in a constructive spirit and as early as possible, taking account of the EU's overall interests and its values; stresses that the accession negotiations should not be used to pre-empt the final settlement of such issues, or impose unilateral solutions, notwithstanding the obligation to fully comply with the acquis and respect the principles on which the EU itself is founded;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Believes that whenever the need to take controversial decisions on sensitive topics within a relatively short period of time after one or more states' accession can be anticipated, the Commission must make sure that the acceding states commit themselves to abstain blocking those decisions after their accession is accomplished;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the EU to support efforts to resolve outstanding disputes, including frozen conflicts and border disputes, before accession; in line with the provisions of the UN Charter, encourages all parties to disputes whose continuation is likely to endanger the preservation of international peace and security to engage constructively in their peaceful resolution and, in case of proven inability to reach a bilateral agreement, to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice or to commit themselves to a binding arbitration mechanism of their choice;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Is of the opinion that all EU decisions recognizing the candidate status of an applicant state must be conceived as legally binding; consequently, is of the view that the Commission, the Member States and the candidate states must be entitled to appeal to the European Court of Justice whenever a European institution or one or more Member States attempt to hinder, delay or slow down the accession process and/or promote policies raising artificial barriers against the European integration efforts of the candidate states and/or adopt a discriminatory approach towards a candidate state, which cannot be justified by the respective state's specificity or the specific historical context within which its accession takes place;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Recommends that the accession negotiations and the whole political dialogue accompanying them are conducted in observance of the principle of full compatibility between the candidate states' accession and growth policies; in order to avoid that the fulfilling of the accession conditionalities generates the economic weakening of the candidate states, while observing the need to assure their smooth integration within the EU structures, the Commission must make the necessary recommendations to the Member States for the implementation of appropriate internal structural reforms in preparation for the accession of the new members;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Supports the Commission's commitment to improving the quality of the accession process by making it more benchmark-driven and transparent; takes the view that this will make the process fairer and more objectively measurable, thus further enhancing its credibility; in this context, recommends that the progress reports should be more assertive, predictable and clearer in their demands; stresses that the benchmarks should not set additional conditions for the candidate and potential candidate countries, but should translate the general membership criteria into concrete steps towards accession; points out that last minute changes of the accession criteria are harming the enlargement process and its credibility among candidate countries;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Is of the opinion that, in order to maintain the support of the EU's citizens for further enlargement and the commitment of the citizens of the candidate and potential candidate countries to continue with reforms, it is crucial to present them with clear and comprehensive information on the political, socio- economic and cultural benefits and costs of enlargement; believes that the citizens of both the Member States and candidate countries must be informed about the costs of the enlargement process in order to avoid further discussion upon this subject; is of the view that the benefits on the long-term must also be emphasized; considers it essential, in particular, to explain to the public how the pursuing of enlargement policy has brought in its wake new investment and export opportunities for the older Member States, and how it can help attain the EU's objectives in terms of tackling the economic crisis, creating jobs, protecting the environment and mitigating the effects of climate change, and enhancing security and safety, while at the same time accelerating the reform agenda and improving living conditions in the enlargement countries for the benefit of all European citizens; stresses the need to target, as a priority in this regard, young people and trade unions, as well as key opinion-formers such as journalists, representatives of civil society and economic actors;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Strongly believes that the EU can still attain great strategic benefits through enlargement policy; believes that the Commission's communication strategy must emphasize that enlargement creates benefits not only for candidate countries, but also for Member States, by bringing new markets and business opportunities, as well as new assets in terms of sustainable geo-political security and stability; emphasises that EU membership represents a stable anchor in the swiftly changing international environment, and that ‘belonging to the club’ continues to offer hope for stability and prosperity, despite the ongoing economic crisis; is of the opinion that enlargement is a long-term strategic concept, which cannot necessarily be measured in terms of short-term balance sheets; considers it important to take due account of its value as representing soft but nevertheless essential power for the EU; considers that EU enlargement is a necessary step for adapting to global economic and political competition;
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Governments and Parliaments of the Member States and of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and TurkeyRepublic of Moldova, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.