Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-03-Speech-3-026"
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"en.20011003.2.3-026"2
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"Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September have changed the world, the drama of which event is shown by the way yesterday Article 5 (the assistance clause) of the North Atlantic Treaty was invoked for the first time in the history of the North Atlantic Alliance, thereby declaring that all NATO countries were required to engage in defence. It is important, though, to point out that this challenge has been thrown down not only to the United States and the West but also to the community of nations as a whole. I was told yesterday by someone from China – the People's Republic, not Taiwan – that fifty Chinese people were killed in New York. That means to say that these terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were an attack on nearly all the nations of the world. It is therefore necessary that we act in solidarity with each other.
… but I call upon you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, to have the European Parliament in Brussels more securely guarded by the security forces of the Kingdom of Belgium. I am given to over-reaction even less than I am to panic, but we need protection and security wherever possible. I ask you, in your capacity as the currently responsible President-in-Office of the Council to use your influence with the Belgian government so that the security of the European Parliament in Brussels may, so far as possible, be assured by Belgium.
Getting to grips with terrorism is an intellectual, political, economic and military task, and it can only be done in the long term. We say again that terrorism, in so far as its causes lie in Islamic lands – for that is where the terrorists are – is not to be confused with the peaceful Arab and Muslim world. This must be repeated again and again! I thank you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, for travelling to many countries in the company of Mr Solana and Mr Patten. We will now also – Madam President, I thank you for your initiatives – be calling a meeting of the Mediterranean Forum, in order to consult with our parliamentary friends from the Mediterranean region. I would counsel strongly against any inappropriate rhetoric! I am not satisfied with what was said by Mr Nielson or by Mr Bolkestein. We must be able to rely on a Commissioner’s speaking appropriately and in cautious terms. We will discuss this on Thursday in the Conference of Presidents and, subject to the way these discussions go, our group reserves the right to call upon the President of the Commission and, if need be, the two Commissioners to elaborate here in the European Parliament on what they have said.
We now need more of Europe. We will be no more than a partner of the USA even if we are capable of dealing not only with foreign, security, and defence policy, but also with internal security issues. We need to cooperate with Russia. We welcome the fact that President Putin is having talks today with Mr Verhofstadt as President-in-Office of the Council and with Mr Prodi as President of the Commission. We want partnership with Russia, but the events of 11 September must not mean that we close our eyes to the human rights violations that are still going on in Chechnya. On the contrary, we must say 'Yes' to combating violence and terrorism if it originates in Chechnya, but 'No' to war on the Chechen people. We must also be an advocate for the rights of the Chechen people, within the Russian Federation of course.
For this reason, there must be recognition for the identity of peoples, which is one of the core values of the European Union. It goes without saying that we must proceed with the World Trade Agreements as planned, for nothing could be worse than for us not to transact our normal day-to-day business.
Mr President-in-Office of the Council, you mentioned Ghent. We support what you have said. We ask you to send out a signal for renewed close cooperation in combating terrorism. Not only should Europol and Eurojust, too, closely cooperate, but – in my personal judgment – this close cooperation is best guaranteed by their being based at one location. We ask you to send a signal to the acceding countries, that they are welcome in the European Union if they comply with the conditions. I am saying this as a German, for eleven years ago, on 3 October 1990, we were celebrating the unity of Germany, which was only possible because the road towards it was prepared by those Europeans who now wish to join the European Union.
What you have said about the preparation for the Laeken Convention meets with our approval. Let me express my gratitude for the way your conception of it coheres with our own.
My final remark will be a personal challenge to you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, as much as to anyone else. We are all facing a challenge as regards the security of our institutions. I must tell you that I feel safer here in Strasbourg – which has nothing to do with the place itself – but because we know that, here, the police are French. When the President of the European Parliament gets a response from the Belgian authorities to the effect that greater protection for Parliament in Brussels is not necessary because there are no indications of attacks or such like, I find that justification far from adequate..."@en1
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