Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-17-Speech-1-038-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110117.11.1-038-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is with some pride and much emotion that I speak in this House today on behalf of my group, the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left.
The reason is that very few of us in this House have denounced the abuses of the Tunisian regime and what people had to go through who dared, against all the odds, to criticise it and denounce its practices, and particularly the torture of human rights defenders.
It took the self-immolation of a young man of 26 to make the Tunisian people rise up and no longer be afraid, because they felt quite alone. The hope of freedom has been born there. It took more than 50 deaths before the European Union dared to make a timid statement calling for restraint in the use of force, but without calling into question the sacrosanct EU-Tunisia partnership and without condemning the violence, Mr Füle, until Saturday. The least that we can say is that the Tunisian regime has hardly heard you since your appointment.
These words about ‘restraint in the use of force’ stuck in my throat. The European Parliament has been mute apart from a timid statement by the Maghreb delegation. It was only on Saturday that you spoke out on this, Mr President, and today a majority in the European Parliament rejected a written resolution. However, the European authorities manage to be more vocal towards other regimes. As a French person, I know what the responsibilities of the French Government are, and I will not revisit the proposals of our Foreign Minister. Obviously, for some people, the colonial era is not yet over, but let us hope that all of this is consigned to the past.
Thanks to the courage of the Tunisian people, the Tunisian miracle, so dear to some people here, has collapsed within a few days and has shown its true face. Today, the European Union has a great responsibility to stand by the Tunisian people in their democratic transition, but without interfering in it. The European Union must monitor the electoral process and make sure that an independent investigating committee sheds full light on what has happened – on the violence and the corruption. The Tunisian people must no longer be pillaged. The assets of the Ben Ali and Trabelsi families must not only be monitored; they must be frozen.
The European Union has failed. There is a long way to go before the Tunisians regain confidence. Things are still difficult today, it is true, and what is happening in the country may provide a good example for the Maghreb region. We know that identical uprisings may take place in all those countries in which the West still puts its own interests above those of the people concerned. Men have already immolated themselves in Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania. It is time to move from words to action where democracy and human rights are concerned. It is time for the European Union to restructure its partnerships with the countries of the South and to finally construct them on the basis of democratic requirements, respect for human rights and equality, or else it will effectively pave the way for fundamentalists."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples