Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-11-Speech-4-203"
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"en.20040311.12.4-203"2
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".
Mr President, the Union has adopted a very firm common position in relation to Burma, which consists of an arms embargo, the suspension of defence cooperation, the suspension of all bilateral aid other than the strictly humanitarian, the prohibition of the granting of visas and the freezing of the assets of members of the military regime, members of the government, people collaborating with them and their families. High-level governmental visits have also been suspended.
The Council’s working group for Asia has recently assessed the effectiveness of the measures and has reviewed the different options available to the European Union in order to respond to the current situation. At the moment, the response fundamentally consists of the application of specific economic sanctions combined with a series of constructive strategies with the aim of determining how to move forward the political dialogue with Burma and the neighbouring States.
The Council’s groups are currently debating the renewal of the Common Position on Burma and it should issue its opinion before 29 April.
Although Parliament must be aware that the Commission cannot have prior knowledge of the result of the discussions taking place in the Council, we cannot exclude at the moment the introduction of new sanctions specifically aimed against the regime and which may be additional or complementary to the existing sanctions.
The Commission is still awaiting the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a measure which we believe to be an essential condition for making the progress in the reconciliation process genuinely credible. The Commission therefore intends to continue providing the population with humanitarian aid and even to increase it. At the moment the humanitarian aid we send to the area, to the country and to the refugees in the neighbouring countries, amounts to EUR 10 million per year.
On 15 December, the Forum for international support for national reconciliation in Burma was held. The Union supports the open process through the Burma Forum and believes that the Union must participate in that process on its own behalf. It is in fact a very positive advance and the Commission hopes that the Bangkok meeting may become a ‘Bangkok Process’ which acts as an instrument for securing a commitment from the international community.
It is essential to support the work of Ismael Razali, special envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which should facilitate the debate between the State Council for Peace and Development and the other political agents. The Commission is pleased about the visit by Razali, scheduled for the beginning of March, which represents a final attempt to move forward the reconciliation process between the military government and the opposition, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.
I would like to make a final comment on possible additional sanctions. As I said previously, the common position is still awaiting revision. In the event that the Burmese Government does not introduce additional political changes, we will have to consider that possibility. Nevertheless, we must be very careful, since the effects of those sanctions on trade and investment must be evaluated in terms of their impact on the poorest sectors of the population. At the moment, certain sanctions adopted by the United States have led to significant redundancies in the clothing sector which are mainly affecting women workers, with a significant increase in impact in terms of human trafficking and prostitution.
We must therefore seek a suitable balance between the need to respond rapidly to changes in the political situation and any reaction, which must be proportionate to the situation on the ground and cause as little harm as possible to the least-favoured sectors of the Burmese population."@en1
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