Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-08-Speech-4-166"
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"en.20050908.20.4-166"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission fully participates in the European Union’s efforts to support human rights in Syria. On the basis of the principles outlined in the Barcelona Process Declaration, our goal is to establish a constructive human rights dialogue with the Syrian authorities. In this context, the European Union troika has, in the past, taken steps following the arrests of opposition figures, including Mr Al-Turk, and the judgment on two parliamentarians, Mr al-Homsi and Mr Riad Seif.
Very recently, the Commission conveyed to the Syrian Ambassador its grave concern regarding the detention of public figures and of members of Parliament and, more specifically, that of Mr al-Homsi and Mr Seif.
The European Commission’s Delegation in Damascus is very closely monitoring the detention of these two political prisoners. A short time ago, the Head of Delegation drew this situation to the attention of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Moallem. The attempt to have Mr al-Homsi and Mr Seif released was a failure even though, under Syrian law, they could be granted early release after serving three quarters of their prison sentences.
The law, however, requires the two political prisoners to sign a declaration announcing that they will cease all future political activities detrimental to the Syrian State. They refused to sign it. From a Syrian point of view, therefore, nothing more can be done to release the prisoners.
We can also observe conflicting, yet positive, signs, which are perhaps the outcome of international pressure: consider, for example, the acquittal in June of this year of Aktham Naisseh, a human rights activist.
However, the overall situation is, unfortunately, unsatisfactory, and the Commission will continue, in close cooperation with the Presidency and the Member States, to bring up other individual cases at every level of its contacts with the Syrian administration.
With regard to the Association Agreement negotiations, the Commission remains convinced that a human rights dialogue will be more effective in the framework of the contractual relations provided for in the Agreement. This Agreement, including the provisions on free trade, cooperation and political dialogue, and with the clause on human rights and democracy as crucial components, will be an important instrument for opening up Syrian society and for making it more democratic.
As regards enhancing the MEDA programmes with the aim of supporting the development of a democratic society, the Commission, under the current national indicative programme with Syria, continues to have support for civil society as one of its priorities in the area of cooperation, and it hopes to continue along these lines thanks to future programmes.
Since it has been mentioned several times, I will say a word about the Association Agreement. The Commission remains aware of the current political difficulties regarding the signing of the Agreement with Syria. By arranging the military withdrawal from Lebanon, Syria has taken a first positive step towards implementing Resolution 1559 of the United Nations Security Council. It is clear, however, that, owing to the current situation, that is to say the continued and visible presence of the Syrian secret service in Lebanon, as well as the lack of cooperation in Iraq, Syria absolutely must take strong and positive action in order to restore confidence and must do this before it considers any possible signing of the Agreement."@en1
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