(06/11/03) Toetredingslanden langzaam in strijd voor gelijke kansen en tégen fraude

• 2003-11-06

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."