Duff: Trust Must Grow For Europe To Grow

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 12th Apr 2000

Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat Euro-MP for Eastern England, has warned the European Parliament that enlargement of the European Union will not happen unless and until Member States learn to trust one another more.

Andrew Duff, speaking in the debate on the forthcoming Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) said:

"The problems of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam - such as voting procedures in the Council and the size of the Commission - have not been solved.

"The Amsterdam Summit exposed both the exaggerated self-importance of small states and the folies de grandeur of big states.

"These problems can only be solved if there is a greater sense of trust between member states.

"Such trust is the essential glue of success.

Mr Duff, speaking on behalf of the European Liberal Democrats, went on to caution Parliament that;

"If the next IGC cannot resolve the Amsterdam issues, enlargement must be postponed.

"This will mean that those who prefer narrow self-interest will have succeeded at the expense of developing European parliamentary democracy."