Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-12-Speech-3-016"
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"en.20010912.1.3-016"2
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"Madam President, Prime Minister, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the initial thoughts which we have to express at this time are feelings of compassion towards the victims and of solidarity with the American people. The terrorist attack of which they have been the victims is not only aimed at themselves. It is directed at the very heart of democracy itself. Democracies are fragile things, and we are well aware that they have difficulty confronting this type of action. In the light of history and of experience, however, I remain convinced of the American people’s ability to come through this ordeal and, at this time, I believe it is important for this House to express its solidarity with them.
That being the case, I should like to thank you, Madam President, for having organised this meeting which my group, in common with others, had requested. I am glad that it is taking place. I hope that it will be followed by a debate enabling us to examine the problems posed by international terrorism in greater depth. Having, on two occasions, had responsibility for leading the fight against terrorism in my own country, I should like to say that there is, to start with, one false notion that it is necessary to get away from: that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There are not; there are only terrorists, full stop.
In so far as it involves a minority trying to use force and violent action to impose its point of view on the greatest number of people, terrorism is never anything other than a manifestation of the fascism and totalitarianism which we have fought in the past and which we must continue to combat resolutely. However, the fight against terrorism presupposes a state of permanent mobilisation, and it is probably because we have rather lost sight of this idea and this obvious fact that we are now confronted with the tragic situation we see in the United States. I think that the United States has made the mistake of believing it is probably immune from this type of action. We in Europe have, unfortunately, already experienced such acts: in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and many other countries. We know that terrorism is a blind force that can strike anywhere and at any time. We also know that political will is needed in order to combat terrorism. This will must be affirmed. Cooperation is also required. If each State wishes to reserve for itself the information it has managed to obtain and if there is no real cooperation at all between the services concerned, then we will be heading for further disasters. If, on the other hand, there is a new awareness on the part of our countries and at the level of international cooperation, if there is the will to pool all the information that may be to hand and if, also, a decision is made to create, in one form or another, a permanent body for cooperation, with the ability to analyse this information and propose the necessary measures, then we shall have the opportunity to oppose terrorism with some success.
I should like, for my part too, to concur with what has been said in this House, firstly by our excellent fellow Member, Mr Poettering, and then by Mrs Hautala and Mr Wurtz. There would be nothing worse at the present time than to speak in such thoughtless terms as to create a sense of solidarity between terrorists and the Muslim world. That would be the worst of mistakes and the most stupid thing of all to do. That is why, of course, none of us can be satisfied with declarations that do not mean very much. I personally think, however, that I – indeed, our Community as a whole – would consider it to be of great value if Muslim religious leaders at the highest level were themselves to condemn these attacks and in that way demonstrate that terrorists proclaiming a perverted faith cannot possibly be identified with, or thought to share any common ground with, the Muslim religion, which deserves the respect of each one of us."@en1
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