Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-14-Speech-3-604-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120314.30.3-604-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, the issue of maritime piracy is becoming more and more urgent. We see ransom negotiations not just taking longer, but record ransoms being demanded and the piracy itself becoming more and more violent.
Maritime safety is an absolutely fundamental issue for the European Union, and particularly for those nations like the UK, Greece and Spain which have significant shipping interests. However, the fight against piracy cannot and will not be won alone by military means. We need to promote peace and we need development and state-building in Somalia.
The EU is the biggest aid donor to Somalia. We should welcome a fresh approach based on land-based solutions, which would replace the income from piracy with that from economic development on land. I call on the Commission to tackle the lack of economic data that we have, so that the EU can focus its aid on the most relevant sectors. We know about the potential of the livestock and fisheries sector, but we need to look to other sectors.
I would also call for better cooperation with the Somalia diaspora, which has so far been ignored, but which plays a major role in supporting the Somali economy, particularly through remittances. It is suggested that these remittances could be as much as EURÂ 800 million every year.
From a local point of view, we have a large Somali community in my constituency in Birmingham. Therefore, I call on the Member States to strengthen their integration policy towards the Somali diaspora.
I welcome the progress that has been made with the Joint Financial Board, and I also agree that we need a short-term plan to protect our ships and protect our maritime transport and trade, whether that is through Atalanta, or through NATO, or through some form of better coordination between the two. This does not necessarily have to be just a short-term plan, as we also need a long-term plan.
Somalia remains one of the poorest countries in the world, where a quarter of the population rely on the World Food Programme. Now that we have this window of opportunity, with progress being made in reconciling the warring factions, we need to take advantage of the situation and move forward with development."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples