[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S7619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate the European 
Union for its decision yesterday to begin membership talks with six 
countries, five of them in Central and Eastern Europe.
  Mr. President, as anyone who has followed my numerous statements on 
NATO enlargement knows, I have frequently criticized the European Union 
for not moving speedily enough toward its own stated goal of 
enlargement. The EU's announcement that it will begin talks early next 
year with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and 
Slovenia is welcome for several reasons.
  First of all, it recognizes that these are the countries that have 
already made the most progress in meeting the EU's demanding economic 
and political qualifications. Five other prospective candidates--
Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia--now realize that 
they have more work to do.
  Second, the naming of five Central and East European countries for 
the next round of EU enlargement in itself will add to the emerging 
European security architecture, along with the other web of ties 
connected with EU membership.
  Third, the naming of Cyprus to the list of prime candidates for EU 
membership should help to move the parties on that island to a final, 
equitable solution that eliminates the division of the country, which 
has persisted for twenty-three years.
  I do not underestimate the complexity of accession negotiations as 
the European Union concurrently moves toward ``an ever closer union.'' 
Nonetheless, I hope that the talks with the six prime candidates will 
move speedily so that they can join the European Union before the end 
of this century.
  Again, I congratulate the European Union on the step it has 
taken.

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