Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-14-Speech-3-146"
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"en.20051214.14.3-146"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this afternoon’s debate has revealed a widely held position in this Parliament, and it is one that I too fully endorse: there can be no compromises with terrorists, but there can be no compromises, either, on the protection of people’s fundamental rights. On the one hand, we have to clarify matters and discover the whole truth – a truth that we may or may not like, but the truth all the same. We have to find out the truth and, as Mr Schulz rightly said, avoid making hasty judgments.
I should like in particular to reply to Mr Geremek, whose speech caught my attention. I said in my introduction, regarding your country, Poland, exactly what you are calling for, which is that I have respectfully noted the solemn denial by the Polish Government authorities and that I do not believe that individual European countries can be regarded as being on trial or under suspicion, but that the truth needs to be sought in respect of the whole territory of Europe: all the countries of Europe and all the candidate countries. I specifically ruled out any possibility of claiming that this search for the truth only concerns Poland and/or Romania. The truth needs to be ascertained everywhere.
Part of the debate on Europe’s essential values concerns both the citizens’ right to security – and on this point I believe the European Parliament has already said on several occasions that international cooperation with the United States is indispensable if we want to win the fight against terrorism – and the duty of the European Union and of all democratic countries to respect the dignity of every individual.
Today you have voted by a large majority for an important measure, a useful measure in the fight against terrorism, and one that achieves a balance between security and freedom. It sets a good example which, I believe, should be a benchmark for us all. It is an exemplary balance between the fight against terrorism and the protection of people’s fundamental rights.
As Europeans we have worked alongside the United States against terrorism and we shall continue to do so. For instance, ladies and gentlemen, I regret to say that the extradition treaty specifically aimed at suspected terrorists, which was signed in 2003, has been ratified by the United States but not by the European Union Member States. You realise how important it would be to have a clear extradition treaty in force today, containing strict rules including, of course, a ban on inhumane treatment. This goes to show that unfortunately we Europeans also have to do things a little faster.
Finally, I believe it is possible to interpret the action and efforts to seek the truth not as an action directed against the United States but, as someone said, as an action to seek the truth that will strengthen us all. We shall all be stronger, whatever the outcome, because the truth can, I repeat, either make us discover something or make us discover that this something did not happen.
In any case, the truth would strengthen us because, in the US Constitution, the Treaty on European Union, the Nice Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights, in all of these documents – and I mentioned the US Constitution in first place – the principle of human rights is fundamental and absolute. I wonder, therefore, why we should not also work together in this area, to ensure that those solemn principles are put into practice. That will be my personal commitment."@en1
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