Last month in Brussels, the Portuguese Presidency formally opened those negotiations. Their launch is a momentous step. It marks a new stage in the transformation of Europe. Not just for the peoples of the applicant countries, but for all the citizens of our continent.
It means that, within a few years, we will have created a European Union that encompasses nearly twice as many members. An EU that stretches from the shores of the Atlantic to the Black Sea. An EU that will be the largest single market in the world.
In doing so, we will have realised a goal unthinkable even fifteen years ago. To put behind us the divisions of half a century of Cold War. To reunite Europe in a community based on free markets, democracy, the rule of law.
The process by which we bring that about will be challenging - for existing and new members alike. But the benefits for all of us will be great. A reunited Europe will be a more prosperous Europe. Open markets are in all our interests. As businesses in Britain and the other existing member states benefit from the greater opportunities for trade, so the economies of the new member countries will benefit from the investment that such businesses will bring.
Already British companies are investing heavily in Central and Eastern Europe. British investment in the ten Central and Eastern European applicant states comes to over $4,800 million and British household names like Tesco, Bass and National Power are now well established in several applicant states. That investment is helping create the jobs and the wealth those countries need. The pace can only accelerate once enlargement happens.
A more prosperous and open Europe will also be a more stable and secure Europe. That is the second prize of enlargement, one no less in all our interests. Over the last half century, what is now the EU has helped create not only unprecedented prosperity, but unprecedented security in a part of Europe all too often scarred by war. By extending that model to the new member states, we will be extending that security and stability too.
That is why Britain has been a consistent advocate of enlargement, and why we argued strongly for the decision agreed upon at Helsinki.
The task which lies ahead of us in the accession negotiations should not be underestimated. Indeed, already throughout Central and Eastern Europe, countries that have only recently emerged from a centralised state and a command economy are making heroic efforts and taking painful decisions to prepare themselves for membership of the European Union.
Those efforts are of course also in their interests. The reforms needed to compete successfully within the Single Market, such as dismantling state monopolies, are also the changes needed to create a prosperous and dynamic economy. The environmental standards required by the EU are the same standards their own citizens demand. The rights the EU expects applicant states to guarantee are no more than those their people are entitled to expect.
Latvia and Lithuania are facing this challenge with energy and determination. Now that accession negotiations have been opened, the need to continue reform is greater than ever. Given the hard work which has already been done, and the work now underway, I have every confidence that Latvia and Lithuania will make good progress in negotiations.
But if we are to realise the goal of a reunited Europe, the hard work of the applicant countries must be matched by similar commitment and hard decisions by the existing members of the EU. In particular, if an enlarged EU is to work effectively, its institutions will have to change.
That is why, as well as supporting the decision at Helsinki to open accession negotiations Britain also argued strongly there for a short, focussed Intergovernmental Conference to bring about the Treaty changes needed to prepare the EU for enlargement.
The Intergovernmental Conference which is also just beginning will consider the detailed institutional reforms linked to enlargement, such as voting rights and the number of Commissioners. Majority voting will need to be extended in certain areas, the Commission streamlined, and voting in the Council of Ministers rationalised. As the Union enlarges, so it will become more diverse. That makes it all the more important that we have in place common rules and a strong Commission to police them.
A reformed and more efficient European Union is essential for a reunited Europe. By bringing both about, we will create a Europe not only more prosperous, but better able to cooperate in the fight against cross-border crime, to protect our environment, and to help guaranteee the security of our Continent. Enlargement is a great challenge, but still a greater opportunity. All three Baltic states can count on Britain' s support in making it happen.
Robin Cook is the British Secretary of State
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