Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-04-Speech-2-106"
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"en.20000704.4.2-106"2
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". – Mr President, I would like to start by echoing the congratulations to the EU electoral observation mission. They have managed to do excellent work under very difficult conditions.
The result of these elections offers the EU a new opportunity for reviewing our cooperation with Zimbabwe. According to the report by the heads of mission there is scope for positive development in Zimbabwe in the political, economic and social fields. Options for the EU to assist in such development should not be excluded, as they say.
Zanu-PF will have to develop new and more appropriate policies in order to approach the international community for finance to stabilise the economy and restore growth, but the legitimacy of Zanu-PF is at stake because of the extent to which intimidation and electoral malpractice helped it gain victory and because, even discounting the impact of such factors, the MDC won 58 seats, almost as many as Zanu, with 61+1. The Movement for Democratic Change will not want to share responsibility for the crisis the country is undergoing or for the painful measures which will be necessary for economic recovery.
Zimbabwe's EUR 110 million 8th EDF national indicative programme has a direct poverty alleviation orientation. Its main sectors of cooperation are agriculture, health and education. The Commission's approach so far has been that aid directed to the protection of basic social services and the reinforcement of civil society should be maintained even during periods of crisis. A total of EUR 19 million is about to be released for a micro-projects programme which in the interests of consensual policies has been delayed until after the elections. It can thus now go ahead.
The Commission has maintained its support for land reform through this micro-projects programme, which is actually for poverty alleviation assistance for legally acquired land in resettlement schemes. However, in April the Commission froze the EUR 2 million for technical and policy support for land reform. Until the government's land reform policy was clarified, there seemed little point in continuing a technical and quite academic discussion on the principles of land reform. Hopefully this will change.
The Commission and other donors are ready to support the process, provided it is in the framework of legality, transparency and poverty alleviation objectives, in accordance with the 1998 donor land conference agreements.
The Commission is preparing a cross-sectoral programme to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe, which is in itself a development crisis and a major cause of present and future poverty. This programme is to be financed from the EUR 33 million in the 8th EDF second tranche. I will take a decision on this in the next few months depending on developments in Zimbabwe. In any event the European Commission is continuing to support poverty alleviation schemes. If the government seizes the opportunity offered by these new elections, EU support could be more substantial in the future.
As noted by the heads of mission in Harare, it is premature to jump to conclusions on the election and its consequences. I fully share the view that EU-Zimbabwe development cooperation will depend on real progress in the fields of democratisation, rule of law, human rights and economic reform.
Finally I would like to stress that there is potential for increased cooperation with Zimbabwe, but this will clearly depend on how the situation develops there."@en1
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