mr president i welcome the accession reports and i want to speak specifically on macedonia and croatia and then turkey
i am pleased to follow my distinguished friend mr brok who mentioned the copenhagen criteria
can i reinforce that the copenhagen criteria are non-negotiable especially when it comes to minority rights and human rights and macedonia and croatia are therefore failing to reflect the community especially as regards non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation
i would say to both of those countries that the accession procedure is an opportunity to bring your laws into line and to explain to your citizens the need to do so and that once you join this club you do not join a club which is based on an à la carte menu
we will enforce the rigorously and especially article nineteen which gives the union the right to combat discrimination on the grounds of and it is a very important list race ethnicity religion belief age disability and sexual orientation
why is this important
because one person could experience discrimination on each separate ground and to do nothing on one is to make irrelevant all the good that you have done on the other
i therefore say that lesbian gay and bisexual rights are non-negotiable
bring in anti-discrimination legislation now
the litmus test of any civilisation is not how it treats its majority but how it treats the minorities that make up that majority
on turkey there has been progress and i am pleased to quote ban ki-moon who says that there has been progress on cyprus
we in parliament should welcome that
mrs dodds is right if we are going to be a part of the resolution we have to be absolutely honest and bring the sides together
but again on anti-discrimination i wish them to go further
non-discrimination is in the constitution but it needs to be reflected in the laws especially again in relation to lesbians gay men bisexual and transgendered people who are often murdered for no other reason than they are transsexual
so allow turkey to proceed along this route on the same terms the same conditions
if we undermine the principles of accession we have no principles left
