Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-036"
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"en.20030514.1.3-036"2
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"Mr President, there are no bounds to my joy at the toppling of Saddam Hussein and of his regime, but that does not mean that I do not believe as strongly as ever that this war was wrong. It was in contravention of international law and there was an alternative; I am surprised that so few Members remember that in May 2002 we agreed on an alternative course. It seems that many of us have a very short memory. However, let me peer into the future: the conscience of the world, and that includes the conscience and the views of the Polish Pope, has been assuaged by promises that the United Nations would be involved after the war and that the international community would come into its own then. The draft Security Council resolution is a farce and the British minister Clare Short has acted consistently by resigning.
Now let me look a little further into the future, and consider the Middle East peace process. In this case too we were told that the Iraq war would make it possible to set the peace process in train, but that nothing had yet been decided. So how do things look now? On the Palestinian side an important step has, thank goodness, been taken in response to pressure from the US and principally from Europe, with the appointment for the first time of a prime minister, Abu Mazen. We wish to give him our full support so that he can do what he has promised and what in my view he would really like to do – to fight violence and terrorism. But the reaction on the Israeli side, or to be precise on the part of Mr Sharon's Israeli government, is not exactly positive. If Mr Sharon refuses to welcome Mr Solana, then that is something the entire European Union should be protesting against. Just as Mr Sharon cannot claim, thank goodness, to speak for the whole of Israel, nor can Abu Mazen – unfortunately – claim at present to represent the whole of Palestine. Arafat is also a force in Palestine that we need to win over to this peace process, and that is why discussions with him are also both necessary and justified.
I have to say, however, that I have heard relatively little from those people who claimed before the war that we would be on the ‘peace front’ after the war, working to achieve peace. I have in mind in particular Spain's Prime Minister Aznar. I am pleased to say that Mr Papandreou, on the other hand, is very active. I also hear a lot from Mr Solana, and I hope that everyone in this House and in Europe will now at least attempt to achieve progress in the peace process in Israel and Palestine, and to implement the road map, even if it leaves a lot to be desired. For there can no longer be any excuse nor the least justification for this war, if we cannot even get the peace process going."@en1
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