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European Council - 16 December 2002
Mr. David Curry (Skipton and Ripon): As the Prime Minister says,
this enlargement is merely the prelude to a new enlargement, and we can
easily envisage 32 or 33 states in the European Union; but that further
enlargement towards the Balkans will raise even more difficult questions
because it will introduce income disparities of a factor of 10 between
the richest and the poorest members. It is therefore essential that the
union begin at an early stage to help the states prepare for membership.
What does the Prime Minister think should be done about that? Where does
he think that the eastern and south-eastern borders of the European Union
properly lie?
The Prime Minister: In respect of the latter point, it is important
that we encourage Balkan countries to move towards the prospect of European
Union membership. As the right hon. Gentleman implies, that is obviously
some way off, and the income disparity is very great. In the meantime,
however, the European Union has conducted agreements with most of those
countries—in fact, probably all of them—to help them in that
process. Again, the advantages for us are immense. This is the first period
of time for years and years—other than during the appalling domination
of the old Soviet bloc—when those countries seem to be reaching towards
some sort of stability. We have got to encourage that. The way to do it
is to help them financially, which the European Union is doing, and also
to start, over time, to offer them a more obvious path to European integration.
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