European Parliament
Bourlanges (PPE-DE ).
(FR)
Mr President, I should simply like to express my concern at the resounding vote given by this House in favour of Turkey’s progress towards accession. Turkey is a great and respectable country, but it is not a European one. Turkey’s accession would initiate a process that would, little by little, gradually lead to an overall dilution of the EU as a whole. It would deprive the EU of a genuine ability to make decisions and take action in the future.
I appreciate that the House has voted in this way as part of the Helsinki decision taken by the Heads of State or Government in 1999. This was, however, a rash decision that was taken without proper debate or consultation and we are now reaping its disastrous consequences. I am also astonished – and I will finish on this point – to see some people today opposing the follow-up of the process, even though yesterday, they approved the initiative – involving Mr Chirac and Mr Jospin with particular regard to my own country – which was at the root of the Helsinki decision in 1999.

