Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-01-19-Speech-2-056"
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"en.20100119.5.2-056"2
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"Mr President, Baroness Ashton, the European Parliament has paid close attention to the internal and foreign policy developments in Iran. The Iran delegation has been engaged in dialogue with representatives of the government and of civil society and had made preparations for a delegation trip to Iran at the start of the month, although, unfortunately, this was cancelled at short notice.
The very dissatisfaction with the fraudulent elections and the constant increase in state repression and violence had caused the representatives of Iranian civil society to turn to the European Parliament. In their courageous move, they are seeking our support for the upholding of democratic freedoms and they are calling on us to take our own fundamental values seriously. The protests are many and they are still going on. The Iranian Government is being called on to give political answers to these unsolved questions, yet instead, we see an increase in the worst violations of human rights, such as torture and the assault of detainees, and we hear of the deaths of demonstrators, while unfair trials take place.
Many Iranians expect us to not only keep an eye on foreign policy and the nuclear programme, but also to see and to take action on the political situation within Iran. It is to be welcomed that countries such as Spain and Ireland are prepared to issue visas in an unbureaucratic way to the persecuted defenders of human rights, thus helping them out of acute danger. Other Member States should follow this example, and we also ask the Commission to provide rapid help to the politically persecuted.
From the outside, what we can do is limited. The crucial changes must come from within the country itself. We must, however, keep the communication channels to the outside world open. In that context, we must be highly critical of foreign companies such as Siemens and Nokia, whose technology is helping to make censorship possible and even more effective.
As no agreement has been reached in the negotiations on the nuclear issue, there is more and more talk of imposing sanctions. It is not clear, however, what sanctions would have the desired influence on the political leadership. If the sanctions lead to a worsening of living standards for many people, an example being sanctions on petrol, they will not achieve their objective and will give the regime the opportunity to blame what it would call the hostile outside world for the deteriorating economic situation.
It is, therefore, very important to develop targeted and intelligent sanctions, including against individuals. Thus, for example, the Council can blacklist individuals responsible for the repressive measures of recent months. In the EU’s policy on Iran, what is crucial is that we create, and stick to, a dual-track policy. Despite the rebuffs, we need to seek political dialogue. Isolating Iran would help neither its people nor its neighbours in the region."@en1
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