Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-25-Speech-3-346"
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"en.20090325.28.3-346"2
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".
Mr President, Eleanor Roosevelt once said that instead of cursing the darkness one should light a candle. This also applies to Turkmenistan. Promoting human rights and supporting democracy in the country must of course continue to be our priority. Many of you have rightly said – for instance, Mrs Flautre who is no longer here – that changes are slow. Yes, they are but they are changes and these changes must be acknowledged and they must be encouraged.
I would be absolutely agreeable to a political commitment from my side – from the Commission’s side – to monitoring the human rights dialogue and reporting to the Parliament regularly. This would be, in the trade agreement, a stepping stone for increased cooperation, and would take us a step further in bringing the framework for dialogue with Turkmenistan on to a par with the ones we have already established with other countries in the region. Let us not forget that either.
Only through enhanced commitment will we be able to influence positive developments and improvement of the human rights situation.
So we have to help Turkmenistan to help itself. We therefore have to engage with the country in a constructive, continuous and strategic manner. We need to create a proper framework for our contractual relations, yet the Trade and Cooperation Agreement currently in force, being so limited, does not allow for that.
Let me also say a few words about suspension, or possible suspension. As you are aware and as the President-in-Office has just said, it is the Council – unanimously, by the way – that decides on such matters. The Commission can make a proposal to that effect.
May I just remind you that, after the events in Andijan, for instance, the Council did decide to impose restrictive measures on Uzbekistan, including an arms embargo as well as travel restrictions on Uzbek officials found to be involved in the events. In addition, technical meetings under the PCA, the Cooperation Committee and the subcommittees, were suspended. These measures were kept under constant review and renewed or amended as appropriate on an annual basis.
In this regard, should such a similar incident – or just a grave deterioration – occur, the Council could take similar measures or even consider a suspension, and the Commission would certainly consider all available options, including suspension.
The inclusion of a specific human-rights-related suspension clause in the PCA would require amending the PCA. In our view, this seems quite difficult as it would imply reopening negotiations with Turkmenistan – which already signed and ratified the PCA in 2004 – as well as with the EU Member States, 12 of which have ratified the agreement as well.
Insofar as this aims at establishing whether a breach of human rights can lead to a suspension of the PCA, I would like to reiterate that both the PCA and the Interim Agreement have a clause declaring respect for human rights as an essential element – as I mentioned very clearly before. Both the PCA and the Interim Agreement have a clause to the effect that, if either party considers that the other party has failed to fulfil an obligation under the agreement, it may take appropriate measures, which in cases of special urgency it can do without even first consulting the joint committee.
Both the interim agreement and the PCA also contain a joint declaration clarifying that cases of special urgency mean cases of material breach of the agreement by either party, both clarifying that the material breach consists in the violation of an essential element.
Therefore a material breach in urgent cases does give the parties the right to take appropriate measures. In our view, these measures could also include the suspension of the agreement. Therefore, honourable parliamentarians, I ask you again – as I did before – to give your assent to activating the Interim Trade Agreement with Turkmenistan."@en1
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