Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-09-15-Speech-3-014"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040915.1.3-014"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, what happened in Beslan is fundamental proof that Islamist terrorism is now, and will continue to be, the main problem affecting coexistence amongst Europeans. It is not just an emerging problem. We must have no doubt that it will be an increasing problem.
The greatest risk facing us Europeans in relation to this phenomenon is that the European citizens may come to the conclusion that our reaction is fundamentally the failure to act, paralysis, doing nothing. That is the greatest risk, the greatest difficulty: not knowing how to confront this terrible risk on the basis of our principles, convictions and values.
On the basis of my personal experience, I believe that, in order to tackle the scourge of terrorism, the first thing, the most important thing, is to increase awareness, awareness of the seriousness of the problem. Legislative and operative measures will be important, but the most important thing is to increase awareness.
There are two sides to this increasing of awareness: firstly, we must have the courage to treat the fight against terrorism as our very top priority amongst all our problems. We must therefore say it, repeat it and affirm it in all the Union’s documents, in all our public statements: terrorism is the main problem.
I would go as far as to say today that the principal gap in the European Union's anti-terrorist policy is not the lack of measures and initiatives, but the fact that we do not acknowledge sufficiently that terrorism is the main problem facing Europeans.
Secondly, the second objective in terms of increasing awareness is the conviction that we can defeat this phenomenon. We cannot start to fight terrorism unless we are sure, on the basis of the moral strength of our convictions, that we will be able to beat terrorism. Terrorism is essentially about fear, it generates fear. And the fear of failure we feel when we deal with a problem of this nature is the first thing we must conquer if we are then to conquer the terrorist organisation.
Ladies and gentlemen, it takes time to tackle a terrorist phenomenon. There are no shortcuts and no possibility of magic solutions. But each and every one of us must have conviction from the outset. The fight against terrorism has nothing to do with the left or right; it is essentially a moral obligation.
I therefore believe we must dedicate more time, more single-issue debates in this Parliament, to tackling terrorism. I believe we must state more frequently that terrorism is the main problem facing Europeans and we must promote a debate amongst governments in order to ascertain in certain circumstances, when terrorist attacks take place close to elections, what instruments are available to those governments in order to defend themselves, whether or not this may include delaying elections, in order to prevent terrorists from achieving their objectives.
In summary, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a moral duty of the highest order."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples