Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-04-Speech-1-165"
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"en.20060904.21.1-165"2
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".
Mr President, I find it regrettable that it should be at this hour of the day that we are discussing this issue, which is a rather important one, and not least that we should be doing so at the same time as the Committee on Foreign Affairs is meeting and voting on Turkey at this very moment. The lamentable fact is that this is another indication of the ‘importance’ attached to this issue.
Glad though I indeed am that these elections took place, I take a rather more sceptical view of them than do those who have already spoken. Although we are told that both the elections and the deployment of EUFOR were great successes, I think the European Union and Congo have narrowly escaped disaster. What if Kabila had been elected in the first round? The situation would have been markedly worse than it is now.
It is clear from the results and the campaign that these elections were not essentially about politics; they were to a considerable degree about regional allegiance in a Congo that is, in fact, divided between East and West. Many persons in positions of responsibility within the EU – and none more so than Commissioner Michel – displayed a bias in favour of Joseph Kabila. I would like – and here I am addressing Mr Schröder – to be able to say that this has sorted itself out, but, far from it, it had a great influence on what happened on the ground, and I would like to quote from a
article, according to which: ‘The gross irresponsibility of Bemba’s campaign, which was characterised by ethnic nationalism and sometimes by racism, was at least equalled by that seen in the conduct of the Europeans, in particular that of the Development Commissioner Louis Michel, who, piquantly enough, is from Belgium. His manifest and public bias in favour of the previous incumbent, Kabila, prior to the elections at the end of July 2006 is something for which the people in the West of the country, and particularly those in the Bemba stronghold of Kinshasa, have never forgiven him’.
I have to say to Commissioner Michel that the normal response to something like that would be to resign. As I have done before, I demand that you pay for actions by doing so. We also know, Commissioner, that a whole array of economic interests are at stake here. For example, George Forrest, a Belgian, invested USD 400 million in a copper mine in Kamato, and it seems likely – or this is what keeps on being said, at any rate – that he used this to make a considerable contribution in support of Mr Kabila’s campaign.
The
does not mince its words when it writes that Mr Kabila is making use of State resources and has received payments from foreign mining enterprises. I do not regard that as a good sign. All we can do now is to hope that the European Union really will play a neutral role."@en1
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