Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-15-Speech-3-183"
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"en.20030115.10.3-183"2
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"Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, may I take this opportunity of welcoming you to this plenary session of the European Parliament. The signing of the Euro-Mediterranean Accession Agreement with Lebanon is, without doubt, an important move in furthering our strategy to create a free trade zone in the Mediterranean and a zone of peace, security and sustainable development for all its citizens. I think we can take an optimistic approach to cooperation with Lebanon. Lebanon is a country with a history of being open to the outside world, a country which looks to Europe and European culture; it has cooperated with the European Union since 1978, even though the Union went by another name at that time. However, we must bear in mind that Lebanon is in the middle of reconstruction, both economic and social and ideological reconstruction, following the civil war. Anyone visiting Lebanon has the distinct impression that it is still in search of cohesion and an identity. At the same time, it is an interesting experiment in the coexistence of different cultures and religious communities and we need to back this experiment if it is to succeed. I think that the Accession Agreement will help Lebanon consolidate the rules of the burgeoning free market, democracy and economic and social development. At the level of the European institutions and Member States, we need to make full use of the potential of this agreement and give Lebanon the chance to participate in cultural exchange programmes and galvanise its civil society. At the same time, we need to start improving the human rights situation, as numerous previous speakers have said, and the situation of the 350 000 Palestinian refugees there.
I am therefore all in favour of the references in the draft agreement to promoting the role of women in economic and social development through education and vocational training and facilitating economic investment. Unfortunately, these references alone are not enough to bring about real progress in respect for women’s rights and I am sorry that neither the President-in-Office nor the Commissioner made any reference to this issue. May I remind you that the European Parliament called in a resolution on respect for women’s rights within the framework of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation for an express provision on the protection of women’s rights, together with a policy for monitoring that protection, similar to the provision applied to the candidate countries which are now about to join the Union.
On behalf of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities, we urge the European Commission to introduce progress monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and to call on the Lebanese Government – and this should apply in all association agreements – to demonstrate the political will needed to carry out the legislative, administrative and other reforms needed to anchor equality between men and women in the law and to mainstream gender equality in all its policies, thereby paving the way for the development we all wish on Lebanon and good cooperative relations with the European Union."@en1
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