Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-06-Speech-3-090"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021106.7.3-090"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"In my opinion, the role of the European Union in the Middle East peace process is still too limited. The United States calls the tune and we are merely supporting players. Given our position, this is wrong. We are, after all, Israel’s largest trading partner. Our contribution of EUR 14 billion also makes us the biggest provider of humanitarian aid. The European Union also makes by far the biggest contribution towards technical and financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, estimated at EUR 10 million per month. It is therefore high time that Europe stopped being just a payer and became a genuine player in the peace process. We have a duty to Israel and Palestine to do so, but also to ourselves for reasons of a historic, cultural, geographic, economic and political nature.
From our European tradition, we must stress that violence is not a solution and that peace must not come directly from the top but rather must start at grass roots level. Terrorists follow no political agenda. We must therefore ensure that every example of senseless violence is condemned by public opinion, so that terrorist acts will no longer thwart peace negotiations. Europe can and must play an executive role in this.
We must persevere with the democratisation and economic development of the region. We must add a more political dimension to our extensive humanitarian aid by making the Palestinians and Israelis realise that they cannot be at enmity with each other for evermore. A greater and more regular political presence in the region is therefore required more than ever."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples