Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-25-Speech-3-301"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2006-10-25"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:EC-Syria Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20061025.25.3-301"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2006-10-25-Speech-3-3022
lpv:speaker	lp:Albert Jan Maat2
lpv:spokenAs	member; PECH (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 member; EPP-ED (2004-07-20--2007-04-09)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-15--2007-04-09)3 substitute; BUDG (2004-07-22--2007-01-14)3 substitute; CONT (2004-07-22--2007-01-14)3 substitute; DROI (2004-09-28--2007-01-14)3 unknown; Christen Democratisch Appèl (2004-07-20--2007-04-09)3 vice-chair; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2004-09-20--2007-03-14)3 member; AGRI (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Madam President, I should like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs De Keyser, for her hard work, and I should like to take this opportunity to express my concern in this area, for let us be honest. We can hardly imagine the European Union, being a Union of values and standards, concluding a cooperation agreement with a rogue state such as Syria. That, though, is the reality, when one considers the links with Hezbollah and Iran. The only option is to use a cooperation agreement, and the associated negotiations, as an opportunity to prescribe a number of minimum conditions in the area of human rights, because there is increasing oppression against trade unions, journalists and religious minorities in Europe. Syrian citizens belonging to religious minorities, as well as Assyrian Christians returning to Syria, are put behind bars almost without exception. There is therefore every reason finally to bring the EU’s immigration policy and return policy to Syria into line with each other at European level, and to suspend return policy to Syria for the time being. That appears to me to be a first step. Secondly, we must demand firm guarantees for religious freedom; the Syrian Government must stop interfering with religious minorities in Syria itself, for the various religious communities and ethnic groups are having a particularly hard time at the moment because of the way Syria is managing their interests. Europe has, in this respect, a reputation to lose, because the European churches are based on the earliest churches that have spread their faith from Syria also in the direction of Europe. This means that the European Union has the onerous task of ensuring, should a cooperation agreement prove to be the solution at this point, that firm guarantees are demanded for improvement in all these areas."@en1

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