Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-09-Speech-3-019-000"
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"en.20110309.6.3-019-000"2
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"Mr President, Baroness Ashton, you said a moment ago, Baroness Ashton, that we must respect peoples and their desire for freedom.
The military exclusion zone is, first and foremost, a political act. How can it be achieved? There are countless ideas. Clearly, no one is going to bomb Libya, but an aeroplane taking off could, for example, be brought down. Colonel Gaddafi has to be shown that he will not be allowed to bomb Libyan towns. There are options. This is a political act that we must carry out.
I really do believe that if we take the bull by the horns and recognise this interim government, we will get the European Union, the United Nations and the Arab League moving. Let us speed up the isolation of Colonel Gaddafi, and then I believe that his days as a dictator in Libya will be numbered.
Now, there is also the issue of humanitarian aid. Doctors are needed, and there needs to be a way of transporting the wounded out of Libya. Some ports are open, and all the humanitarian aid should come via the east of Libya. Lastly, food aid and military aid are needed, too. This is the choice before us: if Colonel Gaddafi is to lose, the others need to win.
Let us ensure that what happened in Bosnia is not repeated. An embargo was imposed on the Bosnians and on the Serbs. Everyone was in agreement. No, it is one side against the other here. We want a military embargo, an arms embargo against Colonel Gaddafi. We want to give the people of Libya the opportunity to liberate themselves with weapons, because this is the situation – this is what Colonel Gaddafi wanted.
I would like to end on the subject of refugees and humanitarian aid. Let us use all the instruments at the EU’s disposal to temporarily accommodate the refugees and ensure that they are recognised by the United Nations Human Rights Council. There are thousands of refugees who are recognised as such by the UNHCR in the camps. We should let them come to Europe! If we do that, we will be making a very powerful humanitarian and political gesture, and we will be acting in such a way as to ensure that Europe is recognised at last, that Europe’s values are recognised, because we are taking action to uphold those values and to ensure freedom in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.
Let us be frank. For years, we have failed to do that. We were party to the dictatorships – we, the European Union and all the Member States. So you have now ceased negotiating with Colonel Gaddafi? Mazel tov! Are you serious? Do you really think you could have carried on? For years, this European Union, these Member States and Mr Berlusconi negotiated the return, for example, of refugees to Libya. Was nobody interested in how those refugees were treated by Colonel Gaddafi?
We should, after all, engage in a little self-criticism where this matter is concerned.
Today, a nation has risen up. It has representatives. When the people of Poland rose up, no one asked if
had been democratically elected;
was recognised straight away, it was helped. I call for you to recognise this interim government, because it is the only force that can bring about democracy. Yes, we need to keep a cool head, Mr Schulz, but we also need to choose which side we are on.
Two things are needed.
Firstly, Colonel Gaddafi must not win, because if he wins, it will destroy any hope of democracy in many regions and it will be a victory for the dictators! Therefore, our policy must be geared towards saying: Colonel Gaddafi must lose, and the Libyans must emerge victorious against Colonel Gaddafi.
Secondly, the Libyans do not want any foreign military intervention, that is true. Yet they are saying: ‘We want a no-fly zone’. The African Union is talking about a no-fly zone. The Arab League is talking about a no-fly zone. Therefore, it is not NATO.
The agreement to impose a no-fly zone is primarily intended to create a new balance of power in political terms, to isolate Colonel Gaddafi from the UN, and to say that we will go through either the Security Council or the General Assembly, which voted 100% in favour of excluding Libya from the Human Rights Council. This means that Colonel Gaddafi is completely isolated. It says to him: ‘You have no future, you have no chance!’"@en1
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