Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-12-Speech-3-019"
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"en.20010912.1.3-019"2
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"Madam President, on this tragic day, we wish to express our solidarity and our friendship towards the American people, victims of the most horrendous terrorist crime. Nor do we forget that many nationals of European countries work in the towers of the World Trade Centre, and that many of them have certainly died. We have a profound feeling that it is not just the United States, but the whole of the Western world, of which we form an integral part, which has been targeted. It is not in fact just the United States, but the whole of Western civilisation that has just been the victim of an act of war, of a new war, which is murderous but elusive, because it does not correspond to any traditional criteria. Some people believed, after the fall of the Soviet Union, that the world was becoming less dangerous, and that was an easy excuse to relax the security effort. That was a grave error. In fact, we have entered a new era, in which there is a greater risk from rogue States led by people driven mad and blinded by hate and ideology. Worse still, more elusive than the rogue States are the stateless terrorist organisations whose murderous folly does not correspond to any logic. This new war is going to force us to review all our strategic ideas. Firstly, Europe is going to have to understand that security must take priority over abolishing controls at borders and elsewhere. I shall not dwell on this point, which you all understand. Secondly, we must strengthen our fight against terrorism and criminal organisations through European cooperation and worldwide cooperation on the exchange of information and on action, but also by first of all putting our own countries in order. It is terrifying to imagine what ideas may be implanted in other places by the attacks which have just been inflicted on the world’s most powerful country. Thirdly, we must re-establish the defence effort where it has been relaxed, as it has in my country over recent years. The threat is real and takes many forms. The rapid reaction force set up by the countries of Europe is a good idea, provided that its democratic control, its variable geometry and the freedom of engagement of the members are better respected than they are at the moment, as can already be said. But, above all, it is insufficient.
While seeking to eradicate terrorism, as you have said, Madam President, we must simultaneously make our territories safer in order to better protect our people. In order to make our territories safer, all useful means must be implemented. One of these is the idea that President Bush launched some time ago, which is an anti-missile shield for the United States. The Europeans, for their part, took a rather negative view of this idea. Today, we must review this issue. Would it not also be in the interest of Europe to conduct studies into the possibility of having its own shield, alone or in cooperation with the United States? That remains to be seen. It would not protect against attacks such as yesterday’s, of course, but it would protect against other risks which we are obliged to anticipate. Neither, of course, do we currently have the necessary technological means, but the quest to acquire them would be a challenge worthy of consideration. That would undoubtedly be a European-scale project, Madam President, which would no doubt be a powerful demonstration to the public of the usefulness of respectful cooperation between national sovereign states, which is intended to protect them."@en1
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