Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-28-Speech-4-153"
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"en.19991028.4.4-153"2
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"Mr President, the question of renewal of the fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union perfectly illustrates the general policy of Europe enshrined in the budget which we discussed this morning and whose rationale we denounced.
We are opposed to the reduction of appropriations for aid to developing countries. Europe is directly affected by the desperate situation in Africa. Firstly, as a former colonial power, but also for having continued to plunder the wealth of these countries even after they became independent. The very nature of this aid must be completely reviewed since, until now, it has served only to maintain neo-colonial relationships favourable to the establishment and the multinationals. Elf provides a particularly striking example of one of these. As for the population, they remain entrenched in endless poverty. Instead of setting the interests of workers in the fishing industry, the interests of European countries and those of African countries against each other, a way must be found to unite their demands and their campaign against powerful capitalist interests.
In the case of Morocco and this particular fisheries agreement, it is no longer possible to once again ignore the rights of the Western Saharan people, starting with their right to self-determination, their right to establish an independent state, if they so wish, and to protect the natural wealth of their territory, whether it be phosphate deposits or the specific resources of its shoreline which are threatened by this agreement.
I would, finally, like to draw your attention to the particularly tense social situation in the Moroccan fisheries sector. A strike movement has been affecting most of the ports in the country for several weeks and is being violently repressed by the forces of law and order. Once again, as in September 1998, it is a campaign to gain the freedom to exercise elementary social rights, paid leave, social security, retirement at 55 and a guaranteed minimum income. But the fishermen of Morocco are also demanding justice following the murder of the founder of their union, Mr Mounacir, by the henchmen of Basri, and I would like to express our solidarity with them."@en1
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