Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-284"
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"en.20041215.10.3-284"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I too should like to welcome the Commissioner and I particularly appreciate the fact that she is a woman.
I fully agree with the need to extend the implementing arrangements relating to human rights, development and democracy. I congratulate Mr McMillan-Scott and I especially share the opinion of Mr Fernández Martín – in line with the vote I cast in committee – particularly on the amendment specifically calling on the Commission to produce an annual report setting out the programming and to report back to Parliament on the implementation.
I have, however, in the words of Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, seized upon the Commission’s willingness to collaborate and also to hold a serious and in-depth dialogue not only on the general guidelines but also on project execution. I truly hope, amongst other things, that this dialogue will also take place directly with the Committee on Development, which I chair, since the issues of human rights, the empowerment of women and democracy are in fact closely linked to the question of development.
I should like to say to my very likeable fellow Member Mr McMillan-Scott that I understand his frustration and I agree about this precious project, as Mrs Flautre put it. In fact, parents cannot always bear to see their children grow up.
Quite frankly, I would not want to emulate the United States, because their actions have very often led to the rise of dictatorships – I am thinking of the Pinochet regime, for example. I believe the great plan for democratic development in the Middle East has already been repudiated by many in the Middle East because it is seen as an act of power and not as genuine help.
I should therefore like us to retain our own individual character and also to value the important work that we are doing. We do not actually want to export democracy, but we want democracy to grow and to have the ability to grow, and we can provide the tools for that purpose. Through visiting conflict zones and seeing the huge number of projects, I have realised that the ability to act without going through the authorities is fundamentally important.
The questions of torture, training and recovery, as well as the question of the empowerment of women have been extremely important. I think we really need to continue along this path, but obviously in the knowledge that there are many limitations and many shortcomings, including in the area of finance. I should not like us to confine ourselves to election observation missions, which very often cannot actually be taken very seriously if you consider that they only last one day. I should really like us to continue operating along lines whereby our aid and our actions can truly be a tool for helping democracy to grow and not for imposing our values."@en1
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