Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-01-Speech-3-106"
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"en.20060201.13.3-106"2
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"I would like to thank my group, which is allowing me to speak despite knowing that I do not agree with their position. I am not going to vote for the resolution, which seems to me to be unbalanced, pointless and harmful to the European Union’s image in the developing world. Furthermore, the fact that there are just twenty Members in the Chamber demonstrates the degree of priority the Members of this Parliament attach to this debate.
I preferred the socialist proposal, but then fundamental aspects such as the United States’ blockade and Guantánamo, the most scandalous violation of human rights taking place on the island, have been lost. The imbalance is all the greater given that the resolution does not acknowledge some of Cuba’s actions, in particular the work it has been doing in terms of cooperation with the countries of the Caribbean, Latin American, Africa and even Asia.
Last week, when discussing disability and development, we highlighted the fact that, in 2005, 208 000 blind people from those countries had had operations in Cuba free of charge. That does not appear to be important here, but it is very important for the people whose sight has been restored and for their countries. The fact that there are more than 20 000 Cuban doctors and almost as many sports instructors and teachers working in this same field of Southern solidarity illustrates something that many people here deny or keep quiet, but their sectarian approach, which leads to resolutions like this one, damages the European Union’s image amongst the countries and peoples of the South who feel respect and gratitude towards Cuba.
Finally, all this resolution will achieve will be to confirm the Cuban authorities’ conviction that the European Union is not an independent interlocutor, but simply an extension of the interests and strategies of the Bush administration, and it will not persuade it to do a single thing to move in the direction in which many of us would like to see things progress in their country; in other words, in this regard as well, this resolution is essentially pointless except for those people in this House whose aim is simply to discriminate against Cuba and carry on treating it as an exception and in a manner that is different to the way it treats other countries with similar regimes. The most regrettable thing is that, by taking this approach, Europe is becoming less and less relevant on a large part of the international stage.
For all of these reasons, I would repeat that I am not going to vote for the resolution and I hope that my fellow Members will at least listen to my arguments, regardless of how they vote tomorrow. If they vote like me, all the better."@en1
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