Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-04-Speech-3-005"
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"Mr President, I should like to say thank you for this opportunity to discuss this particularly topical subject. The debate occurs at a time when growing international attention is being paid to Iraq, and the situation is one about which practically all the media are speculating on a daily basis, this morning too, as we have no doubt all seen.
To counteract the consequences of the sanctions for the civilian population, the Oil for Food’ programme has been set up, allowing Iraq to supplement its own production of food and medicine with imports funded from the country’s oil income. The Security Council proposed the ‘Oil for Food’ programme as long ago as 1991 but, because of reluctance and delay on the part of Iraq, the programme was not implemented until December 1996. The UN revised the ‘Oil for Food’ programme by means of Security Council Resolution 1409 of 14 May 2002. Income from the ‘Oil for Food’ programme is to be used for food and for medicine and other health sector resources, as well as for materials and supplies for civilian purposes in Iraq, including equipment for maintaining the oil sector. Under the revised ‘Oil for Food’ programme, most goods can be exported to Iraq without any problem, at the same time as there being tighter controls on goods that may be used for producing weapons, including weapons of mass destruction.
The UN Security Council is dealing with the international community’s position on the Iraq issue. The UN Secretary-General has been in contact with Iraq’s Foreign Minister on a number of occasions this year in efforts to end the present deadlock. The latest contact took place yesterday. These efforts have not yet produced practical results, however.
The EU’s position is clear and was most recently expressed in a declaration by the Presidency
on behalf of the EU on 20 May 2002, stating that:
'The European Union welcomes the meetings between the Iraqi foreign minister and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the question of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, through full implementation of the Security Council Resolutions and compliance by Iraq with its disarmament obligations.
The European Union reaffirms its attachment to the unconditional observance of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. It calls on Iraq to comply with the Resolutions without delay, in particular by agreeing to the return of inspectors to Iraq in accordance with Resolution 1284.
The European Union unreservedly supports all efforts on the part of the Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The European Union welcomes the Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 1409 of 14 May 2002 which significantly eases the United Nations sanctions on Iraq. The new ‘Oil for Food’ programme will allow Iraq to import civilian goods more freely, while maintaining strict control on dual use goods. Such control remains necessary owing to the continuing concern of the international community regarding the potential use of these goods in mass-destruction or conventional weapons programmes. The European Union calls upon Iraq to cooperate fully with this new sanctions regime, which should help improve the humanitarian situation and above all benefit the Iraqi people.'
There has been much speculation in the international press during the summer about a possible and imminent American attack on Iraq. The American President has said that the United States wants to see a change of regime in Iraq. That is something quite specific. The President has also said that it will consult its European allies and partners. That is something we are convinced will happen, if the occasion should arise.
It is important to emphasise that the EU and the countries of Europe do not have any quarrel with the Iraqi people. Historically, Iraq has contributed to the region in many ways, and the Iraqi refugees who at present live in Europe mostly make positive contributions to the countries in which they live.
In 1990, the Iraqi regime chose, however, to invade the small defenceless neighbouring country of Kuwait. A broad coalition of countries from all around the world stood shoulder to shoulder in repelling this aggression.
After the international community, headed by the United States, had liberated Kuwait, Iraq agreed to a ceasefire involving a list of conditions aimed at ending the war over Kuwait. Iraq agreed, among other things, to give up all its weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles. As soon as the UN is able to confirm that Iraq has complied with its obligations to destroy existing stocks of weapons of mass destruction and to stop developing new weapons of this kind, it will be possible to lift the sanctions.
Unfortunately, the Iraqi regime has chosen over the last 12 years not to cooperate fully in phasing out the country’s weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles.
In 1991, the UN Security Council set up its first commission of inquiry, UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission), which was offered completely unacceptable working conditions by the Iraqi regime, culminating in the regime’s refusal, in 1998, to give UNSCOM further access to Iraqi territory. Through Resolution 1284 of December 1999, the Security Council set up a new supervisory committee, UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee) to replace UNSCOM. UNMOVIC too, however, was refused permission by the Iraqi authorities to enter Iraq under conditions that would enable it to carry out its tasks.
In recent years, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made a sustained effort to convince the Iraqi regime to allow the weapons inspectors to fulfil their task so that Iraq is able to comply with the ceasefire conditions laid down more than ten years ago. So far, these efforts have been fruitless. Iraq continues to make new demands and to lay down further conditions and it still refuses to give the weapons inspectors free and unconditional access.
The economic and social situation in Iraq has become worse and worse since the Gulf War. Infant mortality in central and southern Iraq is at present twice as high as in the period before the Gulf War. Malnutrition is generally more severe. The school system suffers from a lack of materials, and the infrastructure and water and sewage systems are in urgent need of renovation and development. Iraq has gone from being a relatively wealthy country enjoying economic growth to being a country with a shrinking economy and a humanitarian situation of critical proportions. The suffering particularly affects the weakest groups – women, children and the poor – together with those groups that do not support Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Very significant humanitarian aid is therefore being provided to Iraq. The EU’s emergency aid programme, ECHO, is the biggest single donor of humanitarian aid to Iraq, but the UN system, the International Red Cross and associated donors are also active in the humanitarian sphere."@en1
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