Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-12-Speech-4-037"
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"en.20040212.2.4-037"2
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"Mr President, I have taken our Vice-President, Mr Dimitrakopoulos' chair, just to remind ourselves that democracy in the Mediterranean did not begin with this debate. I thank the Commissioner, whose work as Governor of Hong Kong ensured the continuation of the democratic life of that territory, which I hope will spark changes in the wider China.
It is my pleasure to be rapporteur on the communication 'Reinvigorating EU actions on human rights and democratisation with Mediterranean partners'. We welcome the communication and its ten points for action. We note that it was published in 2003. Since that time, the MEDA process has taken on a new lease of life, with the agreements in December to establish the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Forum. In December also, the Council, while failing to agree on the European Constitution, did at least agree that the paper presented by the Commissioner and by the High Representative entitled 'Strengthening the EU's relations with the Arab world' would be adopted in March. We welcome that.
I am also rapporteur on the two regulations dealing with the continuation of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights in 2005 and 2006. While endorsing the communication on 'Reinvigorating EU actions on human rights and democratisation with Mediterranean partners', we are also examining these two regulations. Parliament will vote today on whether to have a say in the priorities and running of this programme, the European democracy initiative, because the resolution put forward by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy today points out that this fund, which uniquely requires no host country consent, should be more focused, especially on what I describe as the 'arc of instability' from Russia to Morocco, where democracy is fragile, or on the Arab world, where it is non-existent.
The Commissioner's references to the UNDP report underline the importance attached to it by the Commission, but unfortunately the Commission needs to put its money where its mouth is. We need to examine very closely the way in which the European Union is funding programmes in this region. For example, he mentioned a figure of EUR 100 million for good governance in the MEDA region. In fact, in the wider Mediterranean, my understanding is that EUR 500 million a year is available for good governance. But of this, only EUR 7 million is currently budgeted through the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. Reference has been made in this House this morning to forthcoming elections in Algeria and Tunisia, where very little money is getting through to the NGOs and activists who are looking for a free media and the development of human rights.
Unfortunately – I have had some experience as the originator of this democracy programme – it is now rather bureaucratic and errs on the side of safety. The only way of dealing with this is to try and adapt it to the realities of the present situation. An unstable world to our east and south demands special actions. Having had experience of working in this field in the 1990s with the ex-Soviet Union, through an external agency which had an agility and freedom to manoeuvre not enjoyed by the Commission and the deniability not available to the Council, I can say that, with the advantage of Parliament's involvement, we have a much more effective programme.
I welcome the Commissioner's assertion that he will be open-minded about further suggestions we might make as a Parliament. I intend to bring these forward, especially since I understand this morning that the Council has decided to withdraw the regulations as presented and to present them in a new format, thereby delaying yet further the adoption of the regulations. This debate will continue."@en1
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