Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-304"
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"en.20070619.42.2-304"2
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".
Mr President, let me first say that I obviously cannot respond to all the comments which have been made, but the Commission shares the view that national parliaments must play a key role in the definition of national policies and development strategies in our partner countries. I say that in answer to Mrs Kinnock.
I agree with her there, needless to say. The only thing is that we must find a way to achieve that objective. I doubt whether I would be within my rights to ask the national parliaments of our partner countries to respond to the country strategy papers. The principle of not intruding on the territory of another institution remains intact, and I am not very sure how this process can be organised. I was relying heavily on the Joint Parliamentary Assembly to be the interface with the national parliaments, but I can assure you that I am quite willing to examine any proposed solution to see how that aspect can be improved.
I also wish to inform you that the Troika has opened the door to progress in the preparation of the joint EU-Africa strategy. That is an exercise, of course, with which the European Parliament has been closely associated. On the basis of the agreement reached by the Troika, the Commission will adopt a communication on 27 June on the objectives of the strategy and on the road map for its adoption at the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, scheduled for 7 and 8 December of this year. My departments are in permanent contact with Parliament, both on the content of these documents and on the organisational aspect. I attach great importance to the participation of the three main EU institutions in the formulation of these strategies.
In this context, I must emphasise that one of the innovative aspects of this strategy would be the establishment of a genuine partnership of peoples. I would therefore like to involve the parliaments – the European Parliament, the Pan-African Parliament and the African national parliaments – in the implementation of this strategy on a permanent basis. I am open to all your suggestions. It is conceivable, for example, that there might be a joint hearing of the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament or a joint meeting of the European Commission and the Commission of the African Union. Logistical and political support could conceivably be given to the Pan-African Parliament – in fact, provision has already been made for that – and assistance to the national parliaments in Africa would be feasible too. There are, incidentally, parliaments of EU Member States which are already doing this. We have only just started. We can therefore work together to meet this major challenge.
Let me respond to a couple of remarks chosen at random. Mr Van Orden, you referred to the case of Zimbabwe in connection with the EU-Africa summit. While I share, at least in fairly broad terms, the judgments you passed on President Mugabe, the important thing for me today is that the European Union and Africa should be able to hold this summit. I must remind you that there has not been a summit of this kind since Cairo, while an Africa-China summit has taken place in the meantime. So what matters to me is that our summit should take place.
Someone also spoke of sanctions against Sudan. I have to tell you that I would not have any problem with sanctions if someone could demonstrate to me that they are useful and do not penalise ordinary people. Generally speaking, I am fairly sceptical about sanctions. I am a far greater believer in the carrot than the stick, and I put far more faith in the exertion of pressure. Besides, with President al-Bashir having accepted the hybrid peacekeeping force, particularly in Darfur, I am not convinced that this is the time to be raising the spectre of new sanctions. Sanctions, we know, can be applied at any time, and I am not sure that the sanctions some people have in mind would necessarily be useful.
Mr Mitchell spoke of access to property ownership. This idea has been extensively developed by Mr De Soto, and I have been following this matter very closely. I am also a member of an informal working party in which, together with Madeleine Albright, we have been working on this idea of property ownership, with which you are no doubt familiar. I find the idea very appealing, and I am trying to see how we could contribute to such a scheme through the European Development Fund. Experiments are taking place, and I believe this is a very interesting and important approach in the quest for an effective solution."@en1
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