07-12-2006, 09:14 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Uber Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Woking
Posts: 31,053
Party: Libertarian Party
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BULGARIA'S EAST ANGLIA CHEERLEADERS
http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/p...2016:54:22:120
Quote:
ESSEX county council leader Lord Hanningfield is to hold a parliamentary reception next month to mark the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.
Bulgaria's path into the EU was smoothed by East of England Conservative Euro MP Geoffrey Van Orden, who acted as the European Parliament's observer as the impoverished Balkan state made the case for EU membership.
Speaking in the Parliament during a debate on Bulgaria, Mr Van Orden said Bulgarians were “overjoyed, after years of communist oppression, to be joining the western clubs of free nations - first NATO and now the EU.
“Enlargement is one of the good things about the EU. It extends the area of stability and prosperity across Europe and distances troubled areas further from our shores. At the same time, widening of the EU means less deepening. It makes the creation of an integrated, federal state in Europe increasingly difficult and the Conservative objective of a looser community of sovereign nations more achievable.
“On the migration issue, my report makes it clear that this is a matter for the British government. The European Parliament has agreed my view that it is chaotic asylum and immigration policies over many years in Britain and elsewhere, largely unrelated to EU enlargement, which is the real problem. I want tight border controls and an end to uncontrolled immigration.”
He paid tribute to Essex charity Harvest for the Hungry which has provided help for a school for underprivileged children and for the hospital in the Berkovitsa area of Bulgaria. I have insisted that the Bulgarian authorities target more resources to overcoming the problems of child welfare. As 'observer' I have also been able to force the pace of change in many other areas, including the fight against organised crime.
However, he was criticised by the East of England's two UKIP Euro MPs Jeffrey Titford and Tom Wise. In a joint statement, they said: “We have just listened to Mr van Orden wax lyrical in the European Parliament on the need for Bulgaria to join the European Union. We heard how it is imperative for democracy that they be given a chance to join the elite in the West, having been trapped in the Soviet Empire for 50 years.
“Is this the same man who would have us believe that he is as sceptical about the future and reality of the European Union as we are? Yes, it is.”
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