Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-06-Speech-3-536-000"
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"en.20110406.33.3-536-000"2
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"Mr President, we are very aware of the intense diplomatic efforts that Mrs Ashton has deployed, and that she continues to deploy, and we are aware, too, of the difficulties of the situations that she is encountering. Indeed, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain are countries with which we have no agreements besides trade agreements, which do not, for example, contain clauses on human rights, and we have very few levers available to us.
Nevertheless, in spite of that, I would like to say three things. First of all, in relation to the inspirations of the people, in relation to those who are in the streets today, under fire from snipers, we must not only stand behind them, but we must also make sure that there is an end to violence at all costs. Today, I saw a Syrian dissident. What these dissidents are calling for, in the end, is an end to violence so that they can express themselves. On this topic, I would like to say that, even if we do not have an agreement with Syria, we should now make use of the entire arsenal of sanctions available to us, if necessary, to end this violence.
The second thing that I wanted to say is that in general, these are countries – and this is true of the Gulf countries as well as Libya – that we have armed, indeed overarmed. I think a minimum requirement is better arms controls, so that these countries and these governments do not become powder kegs which then turn against their populations.
Finally, there is the question of double standards. I would like to say that we have been very prudent in relation to Bahrain, and we have been very firm in relation to other countries. I know that Bahrain is a particularly sensitive situation, that Saudi Arabia has sent troops there, and that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council are helping us against Libya, but we would not want to trade the price of a barrel of oil and of the support for us against the Libyan Government for the price of silence regarding the Shi’ites who are currently being repressed by the government of Bahrain."@en1
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