Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-16-Speech-3-463-000"
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"en.20110216.16.3-463-000"2
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"Madam President, for years the Euro-Atlantic players thought that Islam could not possibly produce democratic behaviour and institutions. Therefore, they opted for either supporting authoritarian regimes or mechanically transferring the Western model of democracy to the Arab countries. Not only did both strategies fail, but they are responsible for the emergence of Islamic fundamentalists and the alienation of secular parts of the civil society.
The present events in Egypt prove that Islam need not only be fundamentalist, but that it can also be democratic if we accept that democracy may have a variable geometry, and if we let it grow naturally from its specific soil. At the same time, we must admit that the popular uprising was on one hand the result of the evolution of Egyptian elites in the cyber or Internet society, and on the other hand the consequence of the existential hardships brought on by the global economic crisis. If the European Union does not immediately and consistently address the need to overcome these hardships, the revolution might move towards anarchy; and from there towards another dictatorship.
Finally, we must not only applaud the fact that no Israeli flags were burnt during the recent events in Egypt, but also observe that the lack of a long-due solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the origin of the feeling of failure which upset Arab society and fuelled its neurosis. Therefore, the European Union should immediately take the initiative in order to use the transformation in Egypt – which today is a mere hope – and turn it into a real opportunity for internal democracy and regional peace.
In this context, the trips of the High Representative/Vice-President to the region, and her readiness to adapt and upgrade the necessary European instruments to cope with the challenges, are good news. Her action must be supported by all of us."@en1
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