Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-22-Speech-2-555-000"
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"en.20120522.22.2-555-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, at a time when we are all struggling with rising unemployment and falling exports, I understand the need for access to new markets for European companies, and I understand the need and desire to support the Commission in its efforts to achieve this. However, the European Union has always fought, and will always fight, for more than merely its economic interests abroad. Our Treaties commit us to supporting democracy, human rights and environmental protection – not just on paper, but in practice – in everything we do, both within the Union and through our external relations.
Colombia is a country where deforestation, water pollution and biodiversity loss remain serious problems. The Colombian Government has introduced environmental legislation but, as the Commission’s own sustainable impact assessment has shown, the capacity to properly enforce this is lacking. Ratifying the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at this point, without proper environmental enforcement in place, will result in increased pressure, more damage to the environment and more destruction to the livelihoods of rural population groups in Colombia.
Paragraph 6 of this oral question requires a thorough response from the Commission. It must spell out the steps that it will take together with the Colombian Government to safeguard the natural environment, before this FTA comes into force. We have commitments, too, that civil society groups will help monitor the FTA, so we must ensure that those groups are free to speak out and that they represent the peoples most at threat from development, especially the indigenous peoples of the forests.
If we are to be a leader in high human and environmental standards throughout the world, we must lead with really binding resolutions, and with clear and strong actions to safeguard core European values. I will support this FTA only when I see those actions coming into force. Until then, I cannot support a treaty where actions on the environment and human rights remain just an aspiration."@en1
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