De Europese Commissie waarschuwt
toetredingslanden wat meer spoed te zetten achter de aanpassing van hun eigen wetgeving aan die van Europa. Dat
is niet geheel onterecht.
Commission enlargement reports:
Still big problems
in gender equality and combatting corruption
Commenting on the European
Commission's enlargement reports presented yesterday to the European Parliament, Elisabeth Schroedter, speaker on enlargement for the Green/EFA group
said:
"The enlargement reports contain no surprises. They highlight well-known deficits. The
most worrying aspect is that corruption in the accession countries is still so widespread. In this area I can
see almost no progress and awareness of corruption remains underdeveloped. In the Corruption Index List
published by 'Transparency International', seven out of ten future member states are in the bottom two thirds,
with three of them on the same level as Sri Lanka and Morocco. Only drastic control measures can bring about
necessary progress in this area."
"At the German-Czech border there are reasons to believe
that the corruption of the police force is a major contributor to increasing cases of forced prostitution of
young women and children. The Czech government is trying to play down the problem and calls NGOs' criticisms on
this scandal 'exaggerated'."
Elisabeth Schroedter, an MEP for Germany, is also extremely
worried about the fact that equality for women is not taken seriously in accession states. For instance, Poland
has still not endorsed equal rights for women in its labour legislation.
"Accession
governments will participate in shaping the future of the EU. We can only hope to avoid a backlash in the field
of gender equality if they leave their sexist and chauvinistic attitudes behind them. On this question, we, as
parliamentarians, will be partners of the women's rights movements and join them in their fight for their
rights."
"We share the Commission's well founded criticism of Turkey on the question of
establishing democracy and guaranteeing the rule of law and minority rights. I'm convinced that the Turkish
government will react to the public and diplomatic pressure put on it and finally free its 'prisoners of
conscience'. We welcome that Turkey accepted European criticism without limitations. This shows that the
instruments of the European Union – such as screening and progress reports – can effectively accelerate reforms
in Turkey."