Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-12-Speech-4-031"
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"en.20040212.2.4-031"2
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Mr President, I am extremely pleased to have this opportunity to express to Parliament why this communication is so important. We have designed a coherent strategy maximising the use of all our instruments to promote respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights in a region that poses formidable challenges in this respect.
I would just make two additional comments. The work we are doing in the field of democratisation and human rights in the wider Middle East is crucial not only to the sustainable economic and political development of countries in that region, but also to the relationship between Europe and the Islamic world, particularly those parts of the Islamic world which are closer to our own geographical borders. This is an area in which we have been working in general terms for some time. I recently read the statements by a very distinguished American public official about what was required in order to develop a more stable, secure and plural region in the Middle East. I read those comments with interest and wished I had been able to say immediately to him that they are very good ideas – we call them the Barcelona Process and we have been working on them since the mid-1990s.
We have to recognise that this is not simply a bright idea for a Monday morning to be forgotten by the end of the week. This is a long-term process and we have to commit ourselves to it, I hope with more vigour and occasional tough-mindedness. We have to recognise that there must be linkages between financial support and behaviour on the ground. We also have to recognise that we are working with the grain of societies and with the grain of people's aspirations.
My second point is quite simply that a number of honourable Members in this Chamber speak with very considerable authority on this subject. I am thinking of the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, of the honourable Member who was once speaking from this bench and also of my honourable friend who will, I hope, catch your eye later in the debate, Mr President. They have played a key role in developing the European Union's policies on democracy and human rights. It stands to reason that we should listen very carefully to their views on the institutional arrangements that we need to put in place and on how we can sharpen up our performance and ensure that what we do is better focused and more effective throughout the region. I just want to underline that, as far as I am concerned, speaking for the Commission, we are open-minded about the ideas that Members of Parliament will put to us and simply want to ensure that what we do is as effective as possible.
Two admirable reports by the UNDP have underlined the significance of this work and I, for one, want to ensure that we in Europe rise to the challenge of those reports and do not simply regard them as containing a few good ideas that can be brought out and dusted down from time to time.
The communication proposes to use our essential elements clause much better through our political dialogue with partner countries. It explains how further to involve civil society. Crucially, it invites our Mediterranean partners to develop nationally owned human rights strategies. This is an innovation. It is not the only one. Countries which progress well will be rewarded with additional MEDA funds. This is in addition to the MEDA projects already under way to help reform the judiciary and promote good governance – currently funded to the tune of EUR 100 million.
It is easy simply to dismiss the chance of success of these projects. Yet, as we all know, the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights and the rule of law rests with governments. Any strategy that ignores this fact is doomed to failure. That is also why the Sana’a conference – which I know the honourable Member attended – was such a breakthrough, and one on which we must build. I am pleased that the Director-General of my own department, Mr Landaburu, was also able to attend that extremely important and significant conference.
No real progress will be achieved without a freely functioning, vibrant civil society. This is where the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights comes into play. EUR 25 million have been allocated to this region for the period 2002-2004. In addition, a substantial proportion of the extra EUR 17.5 million, which this House voted to the European Initiative at the end of last year, will be used to reinforce support to grass roots organisations working to defend human rights and democratisation in this part of the world.
The communication has already produced encouraging results, in Morocco and Jordan in particular. It was warmly welcomed by the Council. Key partners in civil society have also recognised its value. The full support of the European Parliament will be crucial to the success of this, which is, I repeat, a ground-breaking approach, in one of the most difficult regions of the world with respect to human rights and democracy.
Parliament's resolution also takes up aspects of the management of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights and Parliament’s role in the shaping of the initiative.
In this context, I would like to recall that we have come a very long way since 1994. That was the budget year in which, for the first time, nine separate budget lines were linked up under one heading. Five years later in 1999, implementation of these budget lines was put on a firm legal basis with two regulations, one for developing countries and one for ‘other countries’ – Wider Europe, MEDA, the Balkans and others. These basic facts define the objectives of the European Initiative, shape its instruments, and set up the administrative procedures. The European Parliament was fully involved in the making of these regulations. I trust that Parliament will support the extension of the Initiative beyond 2004, in line with its current legislative framework.
The Commission has always kept Parliament fully informed of our thinking. Our communication of May 2001 on the European Union’s role in promoting human rights and democratisation in third countries, which proposed a more strategic approach for the Initiative, was welcomed and fully supported by the European Parliament. In the same vein, since 2002, the Commission has kept Parliament informed about the multi-annual programming of the Initiative, and its annual updates, and sought appropriate discussion with Parliament on our priorities.
Members are fully aware of the procedural constraints under which the Commission operates, which are contained in the human rights regulations, the financial regulation, comitology and so on. It is not in the Commission’s power to change these rules. But I am fully committed, and my services are ready, to continue the fruitful dialogue we have had so far on all issues concerning human rights and democratisation, including the strategy and objectives of our assistance to third countries. On this basis, I would call on Parliament to give full support to a speedy extension of the regulations before this Parliament is dissolved in order to have a stable framework in place for the next Parliament and Commission to build upon."@en1
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