Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-09-Speech-3-106"
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"en.20070509.13.3-106"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should just like to discuss a few points. What alternative is there but dialogue with our neighbours?
We must now concern ourselves, together with the Arab League and, of course, the two actors Israel and Palestine, with making progress in reviving the peace process – an achievement to which the EU and the Quartet contributed – and with meeting the demands we have heard today.
In recent years, the EU has laid down a wide palette of measures – not unilaterally, but in cooperation with many Arab countries. The key ones have already been mentioned: the Barcelona process, for example, and also the further development of neighbourhood policy that is currently taking place. Nevertheless, we note different developments in individual countries.
Who would have thought, for example, that the King of Morocco would have launched a truth commission seeking to reappraise what crimes were committed in the past? Of course, this committee of inquiry does not come close to meeting the criteria the EU Member States lay down for such committees. Who would have thought, also, that certain distant countries would extend the right to vote?
A great deal has happened, but it is apparent that, on certain points, we could have achieved more. The people in Arab countries would also have hoped for a greater share in economic development than has been the case. There is no alternative to dialogue, however.
Mr Rocard spoke of the need for us to develop a strategy: this can only work in cooperation with Arab countries. It is possible that the strategy towards a certain country will differ from that towards a Gulf State. It is also important, however, to note that the Arab League has regained strength. The League often looks to the EU, the association of European states, but it has no such uniting function; instead its members often have a very national outlook and prefer to regulate their own matters. Nevertheless, there has now been a realisation that, when it comes to conflict resolution, in particular, an association is better, and accordingly is a better means of asserting a country’s own interests.
I should also like to discuss the various comments that have been made in the debate with regard to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. I am of course aware that the unresolved conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories often interferes with many of the talks, the forums for dialogue. However, I should also like to say quite deliberately that many problems in Arab countries could also have been solved without a prior resolution of this conflict.
However – including in view of comments by Mr Swoboda and others – we should bear in mind the chronicle of developments in this whole debate. We have never said that the elections in the Palestinian territories were unfair. On the contrary, we noted that they were conducted more fairly than those in many other countries. Another important aspect, however, is that the newly elected government failed to declare its intention to comply with the commitments entered into by the previous government – at least not initially, Mr Swoboda; only gradually – and now only as a result of the initiative of Saudi Arabia.
Many Arab states have succeeded in forming a national unity government.
I would say quite clearly – because this is occasionally obscured, and so that you do not reproach me at the end of the process – that, at the time of the blockade, the EU provided considerable financial support to the Palestinians: a fact that the Commissioner responsible for external relations, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, has always made clear. The sums paid out were often greater than in the period before the ‘blockade’."@en1
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