Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-07-Speech-4-235"
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"en.20000907.10.4-235"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the coup in Fiji in May of this year was not the first one. It was preceded by one in 1987 which resulted in exclusion from the Commonwealth. This does lead me to believe that the tension, possibly ethnic in origin, must go far deeper than we might like to think. Then too, tension between the indigenous people of Fiji and Indo-Fijians was at the root of the problem and, needless to say, with Indo-Fijians accounting for 44% of the population and the indigenous people accounting for 64%, two peoples of more or less the same size are involved. I can imagine that the removal of prejudice, as you referred to earlier Commissioner, is not a matter of course in such situations. Moreover, unemployment promotes tension, and the legally elected government was driven out by the military coup. What concerns me more than anything is that this conflict could spread to other islands with similar problems and similar tensions. This is, in fact, the opposite of what we have in mind and to which reference has already been made: the establishment of a great Pacific Regional Trade Agreement between 14 nations. If we are not careful, this will be the first major conflict in the Pacific and this may well affect the situation in the region for a few decades to come.
All this makes me wonder whether this coup is merely the thin end of the wedge. It also makes me wonder what the European Union’s prevention policy actually consists of. What can be done in order to put such a country back on the road towards being a democratic, constitutional state, no longer in a crisis situation and with the guilty parties brought to justice, as has been requested with good reason? We should also press for the safety of all citizens – this seems basic to me, especially in a country where thousands of people are on the run in their own country – as well as for a parliament which should be re-convened this autumn, and for a democratically elected government. Some of our motions for resolution also include the requirement that the opposition should take part in the government. This, of course, presupposes an agreement, which has not been concluded since the multi-racial constitution of 1997, which was seemingly approved by everyone at the time but which cannot, however, be applied in practice.
The European Union is Fiji’s key trading partner and provider of aid. How can we translate this role into effective peace mediation? Could we not appoint a genuine mediator or mediating body in consultation with the UN and the Commonwealth? The Kotonu conventions provide for a partnership for development and peace, and the Lomé conventions also provide for procedures, especially Article 366, which has already been referred to. These procedures should be applied with due care, intelligence and maturity. We invite the Commission to come back before the end of the year to report on the developments in Fiji and the region as a whole and on the efforts which the European Union has made."@en1
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