Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-279"
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"en.20010314.12.3-279"2
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"Mr President, I will begin by endorsing what my colleague Mr Fava has said. Throughout our negotiations on this issue we have had very good cooperation. He has always understood the importance of a strong development perspective since half of all the EU observer missions have been in developing countries. And the European Union, as a multinational organisation of fifteen developed democracies, clearly has a duty as well as a significant role to play in all the global efforts to promote democratisation, sustainable development and peaceful progress.
I would like to welcome this communication from the Commission which provides the necessary clarity on these issues and a real focus on how the European Union should proceed and probably do these things better in the future. The main point, as Mr Fava has said, is that simply holding periodic elections is not enough to guarantee democracy in any circumstances. Elections are not just about a snapshot on a day; what is at stake is how we cover the whole electoral process.
This is the strong emphasis in the report that we are looking at this evening. It is essential that any verdict given by the European Union does not inadvertently legitimise, endorse or give any kind of support to any kind of dubious electoral process. The phrase "free and fair" should be avoided: it is loaded vocabulary which is always ruthlessly targeted by the media in any post-election circumstances. As the European Union's representative in Cambodia I was very well aware of how difficult that phraseology was. It is also very important for us to emphasise the need to support domestic observer teams. These are the key people in developing countries who understand social, political and cultural issues which we, when we parachute in to observe elections, might not be aware of.
On the Parliament: we recommend that Parliament sets up an election coordinating group able to provide much faster and more efficient responses. I also would like to ask the Commission what resources, particularly staffing, will be dedicated to the important task of delivering the aims of this very important communication.
Finally, the European Parliament is a central player in the Union's efforts to cover elections. Our credibility is at stake here and I welcome the opportunity offered to us by the Commission to define a very clear and shared vision of Europe's role in the democratic process in countries all over the world."@en1
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