Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-12-Speech-3-014"
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"en.20010912.1.3-014"2
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"Madam President, President of the Commission and the Council, the world today seems much bleaker than it did before Tuesday’s shocking events. The horrific images of the brutal and cowardly acts of terrorism on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington will stay in our minds forever. No cause could ever justify such a terrifying act of cold-blooded barbarism.
On behalf of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group, I want to express the deep sorrow we feel for the victims who died in this tragedy and wish to send my heartfelt condolences to the families and all those who have lost their loved ones. Our thoughts are also with the rescue forces, the firefighters and policemen who risked and lost their lives to save others.
What the world witnessed yesterday – and there are no other words to express it – was a crime against humanity. As soon as the terrorists are identified, they should be brought to an international court for crimes against humanity and judged accordingly. This is the time to speed up the establishment of a permanent international criminal court.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, the United States of America should also recognise the need for such an institution. If, on the other hand, the United States responds with attacks on possible suspect countries, they will not only be killing more innocent people, just like those who died so tragically on Tuesday, but they will also be encouraging further counter-attacks: two wrongs never make a right.
The devastating consequences of a spiral of revenge are nowhere more visible today than in the Middle East. We should do everything possible to ensure that this attitude is not repeated on a global scale. I would like to express our deep concern about the situation in the Middle East and call for international efforts to bring the peace negotiations back on track to be intensified. In this regard, we welcome the clear commitment made along those lines by Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, in today’s press and as representative of the Presidency-in-Office of the European Union.
We need to be tough on terrorism, but we also need to be tough on the causes of terrorism. We need a political response on a global scale to this unprecedented challenge in order to weed out the real roots of terrorism which stem from political, social and environmental conflicts: this concept underlies the report of Mr Watson, which this Parliament adopted last week.
If there is widespread fanaticism, which breeds and supports this sort of terrorism, we can assume that there is something wrong politically. The European Union is well placed to engage in forms of conflict prevention and conflict resolution which address the causes and not merely treat the symptoms. That is why we believe a European Union/United States Summit should be held to deal with all aspects of the new terrorist threats, including the social and political causes.
On Tuesday, our sense of security was shown to be illusory. It became evident that high-tech measures, such as a missile defence system, would be powerless in the face of this new kind of low-tech terrorism. What has happened in New York and Washington cannot be allowed to ever happen again. All defenders of democracy must protect our precious civilisation and uphold the civilised rule of law."@en1
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