Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-04-Speech-3-197"
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"en.20010704.5.3-197"2
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"Thank you very much, Mr President. I would like to begin by pointing out that the GUE/NGL Group is in favour of the two reports, by Mr Wuori and by Mr Cornillet. They are both very good reports. I witnessed a visit which Mr Cornillet made to Spain in relation to the situation of the immigrants, exactly a year after the incidents in El Ejido and I can testify to his concern. And Mr Wuori has distinguished himself by producing a very complete report which we have all participated in and which I believe is a source of pride for the Committee on External Relations.
Furthermore, I am grateful for the speeches by the two Commissioners, Mr Patten and Mr Vitorino, as well as the President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Michel, because they support the idea of Europe becoming the obligatory reference point for guaranteeing human rights in the world.
It is important to highlight this issue because, so far, it appears that only the United States represents this guarantee when in fact I think the opposite is happening. Europe’s cultural, historical and social heritage, the four generations of human rights which, since the French Revolution, have been building up within European history, and also the success we have had with European integration are a guarantee of the unique privileged role which the European Union can play in the rest of the world. Nevertheless, this should not stop us believing that we have an historic shared responsibility with regard to the tragic situation of human rights on the three continents. Because it is precisely our presence on those continents which is one of the causes of these peoples’ difficulties in having their human rights respected.
I think it would be worth establishing European Union human rights observatories in each of the three continents, which would maintain relations with the NGOs and with the instruments of the United Nations, so that the annual reports carried out by Parliament, to the Commission and the Council, may have the effect of improving our interventions. We must not be surprised if sometimes our multinational companies (as I have observed in Colombia or as happens in Africa and Asia) are funding paramilitary groups which directly attack human rights. It is our responsibility to bring these facts to light so that we can make progress in the establishment of human rights.
Finally, I would like to point out that, in the European Union, as Mr Cornillet has rightly said, we must offer an example rather than preach and therefore on this occasion we have the opportunity to begin with immigrants as one of the issues which Europe has still to deal with. We cannot say that we need 70 million immigrants in order to make progress with our economy and then discriminate against them.
For all these reasons, it is important that we support these reports."@en1
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