Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-19-Speech-4-136"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2002-12-19"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Hong Kong2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20021219.7.4-136"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2002-12-19-Speech-4-1372
lpv:speaker	lp:Richard A. Balfe2
lpv:spoken text	"Madam President, I begin by declaring an interest as the joint president of the Hong Kong Friendship Group, joint, that is, as with my good friend and colleague, Mr De Clercq, from the ELDR Group. The first point I would like to make – and this has been alluded to by my friend and colleague, Mr Cushnahan – is that Hong Kong cannot pass law under its constitution if it contravenes the international standards of human rights. My second point is that all countries need security legislation. I would argue that even what is proposed is milder than the recent Homelands Security Act passed in the United States, without much obvious protest from this House. We asked the Hong Kong authorities to ensure that the Article 23 proposal would not be used to silence opposition. I shall give a couple of quotes. A few days ago on 27 November, Mr Antony Leung, the Financial Secretary, was in the European Parliament. From the minutes of the meeting he attended – and I quote: 'He gave a very personal reassurance of the government's commitment to upholding the rule of law and the guarantees of human rights and freedoms set out in the Basic Law and enshrined in the Hong Kong legal system'. That was in front of our Members very recently. A few days ago, on 10 December, the former financial secretary, now acting Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, said in a speech in Hong Kong: 'The free flow of information, the freedom to say and do what we want are the very fabric of Hong Kong society'. I put it to you that there is concern. I also look forward to having a clear and detailed provision and would like to see a draft bill for us to debate. But let us concentrate on getting good legislation, and not fall victim to those who want to campaign against the PRC by proxy."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; ECON (2002-05-22--2004-07-19)3 quaestor; European Parliament (2002-01-16--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Development and Cooperation (2002-05-30--2004-07-19)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (2002-02-06--2004-07-19)3 member_of_the_bureau; EPP-ED (2002-03-08--2004-07-19)3 quaestor; Parliament's Bureau (2002-01-16--2004-07-19)3 member; Quaestors (2002-01-16--2004-07-19)3 member; PETI (2002-04-08--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (2002-03-06--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Balfe (PPE-DE )."1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph