Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-16-Speech-4-195"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060316.24.4-195"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President
we would not have held this debate this afternoon. It is not that we do not care about Kazakhstan or that we think that nothing is wrong there; of course, we worry, but in the last term of office, this House accepted a strict resolution on Kazakhstan, one which both this Parliament and the Government of Kazakhstan took seriously at the time. It has led to the admission of more political parties and has, in any event, resulted in a step forward in the freedom of the press.
We worry again today, but what is striking now compared to the previous resolution on the situation in Kazakhstan, is the fact that the government, the President, is at least trying to introduce transparency, in the sense that in relation to killings, or matters that can be called into question, there is in any event every opportunity for foreign observers to watch what is happening.
One thing is for sure. Something is brewing in Kazakhstan, that is true, but that does mean that you cannot assess the situation in the right manner, and we think that in that light, this resolution is premature at the moment. Another reason is that whilst we do not think that everything is wonderful, we do see for the first time that in sensitive areas, where people may have been killed and people have definitely been killed, although the circumstances or perpetrators are unknown, there is a willingness to show what is happening, how the process is drawing to a close. It is these points we should like to highlight in order to strengthen the relationship that we in the European Union have with Kazakhstan.
The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats propose, then, that we should make use of the cooperation between the parliamentary delegations. The parliamentary delegation from Kazakhstan will be visiting Brussels in May, during which we will have an opportunity to discuss all these issues as fellow-parliamentarians. We in the PPE-DE Group would like to see some progress in relation to the countries in Central Asia. As for Kazakhstan, we must clearly debate the topic of partnership to find out whether we can team up in those areas in which we cooperate well.
In a nutshell, we are concerned about Kazakhstan. While we are not always impressed by democracy in that country, we can see at this very moment that there is more transparency, that something is brewing, that there is much uncertainty. I should in any event like to congratulate the Commissioner on the sound information we have received from her representative in Almaty on this score, which we greatly appreciated.
As far as the vote is concerned, although we have contributed to this resolution, for not doing so is excluding ourselves from the game in hand, we did apply for five split votes, the outcome of which will determine whether we will back this resolution or not. In short, although we have concerns, we would like to talk these over with our Kazakh colleagues on amicable terms to see whether we can take a few steps forward in relation to democracy."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples