Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-06-Speech-3-085"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021106.7.3-085"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Mr Solana, Commissioner, I listened carefully to Mr Solana’s comments on Iraq. I was extremely surprised, however – since President Bush has not yet ruled out the threat of another war against Iraq, with or without the UN resolution – that the Brussels European Council found nothing to say about this. Moreover, the Union in its current form has hardly said anything about this highly sensitive issue. The only ones taking action are a few States that are members of the Security Council, and also some forces of peace which are working together. In this area, Mr Kucinich, a member of the US Congress and Chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus sends us this message: ‘We can still avoid this war. Let us work together for peace, cooperation, for a new era in human relations where war has no place. I welcome every opportunity to work with you to create this new world’.
Mr President, I dream of a Europe, of a united Europe capable of taking up the challenge before it. Europe does not do this at the moment, this is the existential challenge that we must accept.
In the Middle East, more than twenty years ago, there was the declaration from the Venice European Council, which called for an end to the Israeli occupation, which stressed that the settlements were illegal, which acknowledged the right to Palestinian self-rule and which insisted that the PLO must be involved in the negotiations. That was more than twenty years ago! Much more recently, in March 1999, the declaration of the Berlin Summit explicitly recognised the right of the Palestinians to a State. But today, when the situation is worsening dramatically day by day, when the Oslo Accords are cast aside and forgotten, when the radical elements of the occupiers responds to the radical elements of a part of the occupied, how can we interpret the silence of the European Union Member States? My group does not believe that this can go on, that the silence and the half-hearted measures can continue. We need firm initiatives which can demonstrate to the world, and more importantly to the peoples of the region, a political, clear will, encouraging the supporters of peace to take action. We need to kick-start this issue.
For the time being, I shall put forward a practical proposal. The Thursday of our next sitting will be the eve of the 35th anniversary of the celebrated UN Security Council Resolution 242 which is one of the international community’s major reference points in the conflict. Well, I suggest we organise a formal occasion involving Parliament, the Council and the Commission in Strasbourg. I suggest we also involve young supporters of peace, young Europeans, young Palestinians, young Israelis, those who gathered en masse last Saturday in Tel Aviv to commemorate the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Each of our institutions will therefore be able to state clearly what, in its view, in accordance with international law and our common values, is unacceptable and, conversely, what type of plan for fair and lasting peace we want to draft."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples