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Coalition Parties Support EU Enlargement Process
Saturday 29 May 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, May 29 (TASR) - All Coalition parties agree with further EU enlargement, their representatives have told TASR.
Slovak National Party (SNS) caucus leader Rafael Rafaj especially points to the preparedness of Croatia and Serbia. "I think they fulfil the criterion of 'Europeanness'. These are Slavic states, which would support the element of Slavic civilisation in Europe and it's also necessary to strengthen the European element in Balkan," Rafaj told TASR.
SNS supports EU enlargement, but only if all the accession criteria are met. This attitude relates to Ukraine as well, but first, safety criteria have to be ensured, Rafaj claims.
Kosovo can, according to Rafaj, become a EU member state only as an integral part of Serbia and SNS wouldn't like to see Turkey as a member state either. "Conditions haven't been created for that," said Rafaj.
Deputy Premier and Smer-SD vice-chair Dusan Caplovic believes that the European Union shouldn't decide for isolation, but openness. He also stressed that the European Union can't be divided into 'new' and 'old' member states. Smer-SD will still support assistance to countries of Western Balkan, which aspire for the EU membership, in their integration efforts.
According to Caplovic, the issue of Turkey is a question of tough agreements, not soft arguments. Turkey should meet the accession criteria, claims Caplovic. "Possible negotiation about concessions (for Turkey) wouldn't look from its side as a attempt to simplify the fully-fledged membership, but as a inability to meet the tasks which are currently met by EU 27 every year," he claims.
"We support EU enlargement by Western Balkan countries on the basis of the commitments following from it and (meeting of) the stipulated accession criteria," LS-HZDS vice-chair Barbora Strakova told TASR.
According to her, this should be the main priority vis-a-vis EU enlargement and the issue of Turkey should only be dealt with when the integration process in the Western Balkan is completed. At the same time, LS-HZDS welcomes the progress that has been achieved by Turkey in the recent years.
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