Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-12-Speech-3-035"
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"en.20030312.1.3-035"2
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"Since we last met here in Strasbourg, substantial progress has been made, and impressive events have taken place, the most important of which has been, without a doubt, the European peoples' referendum on 15 February. I use the word ‘referendum’ because calling it a demonstration does not do anything like justice to what happened on that day, when the peoples of Europe made very firm demands for two things, the first being, quite simply and unequivocally, ‘No War’, and the second, a common European foreign policy capable of stopping this one. This is where I agree with Mr Poettering's words earlier, to the effect that ‘It is not that there is too much of America – there is not enough of Europe.’ Such a foreign policy is what we need.
There is a great deal of talk about Europe being divided. I can tell Mr Poettering that, when it comes to rejecting this war, Europe is very much united at grass-roots level, and to a degree not seen before on any other issue. It is individual governments that are dividing the European Union by taking decisions contrary to the declared will of their peoples. It is in these countries that demonstrations were at their largest and most impressive – in Madrid and Barcelona, in London and in Rome.
Apart from that, much more has been happening. Mr Blix's report on 7 March shows that Iraq's disarmament has made significant progress. That is not a matter for dispute here; it is the unequivocal position of all of us that we want Iraq to disarm completely and unconditionally. All the contentious points arising from Mr Blix's previous report of 27 February have been resolved – the U2 reconnaissance flights, interviews with Iraqi scientists, even the destruction of the El-Samud rockets.
For this war, there is neither an objective reason nor a legal base. Neither Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, nor, indeed, Articles 39, 41, or 42 from Chapter 7 of it, would confer legality on a Security Council decision in favour of war.
The question is whether there will be a war. With your permission, Mr President, I would like to quote from an article by William Chrystal and Robert Cagan in the 18 November 2002 issue of the
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