Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-09-Speech-3-062-000"
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"en.20110309.6.3-062-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much for what has been an important and, I think, very significant debate in this Parliament.
So I think it is unfair to show a picture of Herman Van Rompuy performing his responsibilities as President of the European Council on behalf of all of us in the host country with the person who was hosting the event. Whether we would prefer the African Union to have held its summit somewhere else is another question; whether, indeed, we would have made some remarks to them on many occasions that perhaps they should. But in the end, we go to meet the African Union largely where the African Union suggests. We may not like that, and it is a genuine debate. I think we have to engage in that at some point, because my general principle is that engagement is better than isolation. Isolation is effective in some circumstances, but engagement is better.
Having said that, as I have also made clear, we may have brought Gaddafi out of the cold. It is now time to send him back into the cold, fully and properly. This is also very important: to have an assessment of what we engage and how we engage and be prepared to review that and stand up and say: we have done this for a set of reasons we think are right, whichever country it is; that we believe engagement in these circumstances is better, but there are circumstances when that is not appropriate and circumstances where, even if that is what we did, it is not appropriate now.
But let us be honest, let us not throw down challenges with photographs or other things, where people did this and people did that. People mainly do their very best in circumstances that are very difficult, and I think we should take pride in the President of the Council trying to be the representative of the Member States.
I want to just also say something about labels. We hear a lot about a Marshall Plan: somebody even called it an Ashton Plan. No, let us have a Libyan Plan, or an Egyptian Plan, or a Tunisian Plan, owned by the people of those countries in which we engage and offer our support.
I do not want to make a plan that we arrive at and about which we say: guess what, we have come to bring you our plan for your country. No, let us not do that. Let us actually be the people who offer the support to ensure that their plan is able to be everything that we would want it to be to support democracy.
There are people in this House who have years of experience, who have come through revolution and change and who have a huge amount to offer. I firmly hope – and I have said this in these countries – that they will call upon (if they feel it would be valuable) those people who have lived it and who not only know what worked but also can tell them what did not work. Perhaps the things to avoid can be just as important as the things to do.
I agree that we need to review what the EU does, what tools we have available to us, whether we have enough, whether we need to think again about what we are able to do. Because you are right, I operate within a mandate that I am given, and I can only operate in that mandate. That mandate allows me to do some things, but it mainly requires me to gather together the institutions and the 27 countries in a concerted and joint effort.
One final thing about publicity and listening. I have done more press, I think, than anybody else in the world on all of this. I have been wall to wall on the airwaves. We were the first out on the resignation of Mubarak, and I have done a huge amount of press. But I have also done far more without the press in the room. Again, that is what I think is important, because more than anything, we need to listen. We are all visiting these countries, and they have so many visitors from across the world, and that is great – though I think sometimes we need to give them space and time to be able to work together to plan and then have an even more informed conversation with us. But we also need to listen, and if there is anything I urge upon all of us it is to take the time to really listen – I will say this to Member States as well – to what people on the ground are saying, to go to Tahrir Square as I did, to talk to the young people in Egypt, to talk to civil society in Tunisia and to engage with the people of Libya wherever we can: to discuss what they want for their future and do everything we possibly can to back them.
The common theme, of course, is the desire to see change in Libya that puts the wishes of the people at the forefront of the energy of the European Union and the international community.
I think Mr Schulz said it first, but it was repeated very often: we need to be very clear-headed about what we do and very determined on what we should do. We have to make sure, first of all, that the humanitarian aid and support goes in and gets to the right places. We are in touch with
and the ICRC all the way through the country from Benghazi to Tripoli. But I know from my discussions that there are areas where it is exceptionally difficult to get aid and medicines into the country because of the fighting that is going on and because people cannot get through.
This is something that Mrs Georgieva, as Commissioner for humanitarian aid, is working on, and Mrs Amos in the UN is also coordinating efforts from there. The good news is that in some places, we are getting messages that they are coping well and support is getting through, but there is, of course, much to do.
I have also listened to what honourable Members have said about the issues of refugees. We have worked hard with Member States to try and support getting people home. For a lot of refugees who arrived at the Tunisian border, their home was Egypt, and some Member States have been working closely with the Tunisians to provide transport by sea or by plane to get people back home, and also to watch over those who will be heading back to Africa.
But there is much more to do. My belief is that, if we can make the country more stable, people can stay at home – which is where they want to be. So one of the challenges for the EU – and I am very open about this – is that by providing stability in our southern neighbourhood, we enable people to stay where they wish to stay, with economic prosperity and democracy, rather than feeling that they have to flee because of violence, lack of opportunity or other issues.
Then there is this whole question of a no-fly zone and the role of military options. I indicated the work on what we described as prudent planning that has been going on with the Political and Security Committee (COPS) and which continued last night. Those discussions are referred to in our discussions with the United Nations, which I have also indicated are ongoing, and NATO, where I will attend a meeting tomorrow. Of course they are done in conjunction with our partners. The Arab League will discuss a no-fly zone on Saturday.
But what I am also very mindful of is something that the Secretary-General of the Arab League said to my delegation visiting him yesterday: we have to define what we need, because a no-fly zone by definition means different things to different people. Ensuring that whatever is done can be done properly is something I think this House would be very keen to see. We have to be sure that whatever options are taken, they are taken with the full knowledge of what we are doing and with the support of the people who are going to be affected by that. In that context, I refer again to the need for our continued discussions and dialogues with the African Union and with the Arab League.
We could have a big debate – and perhaps we should – about a subject that I started to write about in the press, which is isolationism versus engagement. It is a real challenge, and what I would say to the gentleman who held up the photos is, of course, if you are the President of the European Council and you go as President to the African Summit which is held in Libya, you will find that there is a picture of the President with Gaddafi. Of course. There are pictures of many people. There was a picture shown in the same group of our esteemed ALDE Group leader. There are pictures that you can take on many occasions where those of us who are given positions of responsibility have to engage with people who we probably would not wish to."@en1
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