Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-25-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20061025.3.3-018"2
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"Mr President, my group does not wish to involve itself in Spanish domestic politics, but there are principles of international law to which all countries are obliged to adhere. Sometimes, they do not provide a clear answer. The right of peoples to self-determination is an inviolable principle. Every people has the right to chose its own fate. Every nation has the right to its own country.
There are, however, only around 10 to 12 countries in the world where people, nation and geographical unit combine to form a higher unit. Everywhere else it is a question of negotiating solutions that are respected by the different peoples and nations that share the same territorial unit. The EU does not interfere in the forms of government of the Member States. This is an area in which they themselves have competence, whether they wish to have a unitary state, a federal community or devolved arrangements or to be divided into multiple states. The states must protect minorities and respect human rights. National discrimination is not permitted. So what can the EU do in the Basque Country to end terrorism and ensure a durable solution with peace and tolerance? We can encourage our fellow MEPs from Spain to find a negotiated solution and we can provide an economic carrot – financial support for economic development, jobs, training and education instead of terrorism.
I come from the border region between Denmark and Germany, where we have had wars and hatred for centuries. My grandfather was a German soldier with Danish sympathies. My father was conceived in Germany, but born in Denmark after Northern Schleswig rejoined Denmark following a referendum. Our national leader, Hans Peter Hansen, was a moderate who did not want areas that had German sympathies to rejoin Denmark, as Germany was on its knees after the First World War. What a stroke of luck! The reconciliation between Danes and Germans began, and now everyone recognises the border. Denmark grants the German minority more rights than it grants to Danes, and the same applies to the Danish minority in Germany, an example being exemption from the 5% electoral hurdle to qualification for parliamentary representation. Recognition, respected rights, special rights – these are the keys to understanding and lasting peace.
As a boy, a German-owned shop was not somewhere that I could buy things. Today, that seems incredible, and I now work with both the German minority in Denmark and the Danish minority in Germany. We drew up together the proposal for the protection of minorities in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. I hope that the Basques and the other peoples of Spain will be able to reconcile their differences. The means of achieving reconciliation between Denmark and Germany proved to be a referendum on special rights. Referendums do not hurt as much as bullets and gunpowder. It is indeed possible to put the past behind you."@en1
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