Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-12-Speech-3-168"
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"en.20051012.16.3-168"2
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"Mr President, as a member of the delegation of short-term observers, I should like to thank particularly the long-term observers for the work they have done. The text as proposed states that the Ethiopians have demonstrated their faith in democracy. I think they have done more than that; they have made their dignity a matter of record and proved themselves fit for democracy. It is they above all who deserve our gratitude and the gratitude of the spirit of democracy.
Once, in Ethiopia, at six o’clock in the morning, I counted a queue of 150 people; around noon, I saw 1 500 of them in various polling stations. Like me, Mrs Gomes saw elderly people queuing up for hours on end without food or water and then casting their votes with broad grins. At a time when fewer and fewer of our own electorate were turning out to vote, it was in Ethiopia that I rediscovered democracy’s ‘sex appeal
if I might be permitted to use that frank and sloppy term. I saw how beautiful democracy can be!
We also, however, saw how fragile the democratic process can be, with people whispering ‘please don’t go!’ to us as we left the polling stations. We saw the sort of reputation the European Union has, and the faith people place in it as an entity that not only parades its ideals before it like a banner, but is also prepared to stand up for them, and, speaking personally, let me say that I have before never been so proud to wear the European Union’s ‘ring of stars’.
We also had the experience of hearing people who were election observers say that, once the count was over, they were going to disappear for a few days for their own safety. When we were in Addis Ababa, we often heard it said that the government might not be willing to relinquish office, but also that the opposition might not be willing and able to assume it. In conditions of such insecurity, the European Union was well advised to be guided by caution.
Subsequent events have shown, though, that the government will probably not be able to remain in office, and that the opposition is better able than we had thought to exercise power. The caution evident in these resolutions is something that we should progressively abandon."@en1
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