Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-21-Speech-5-049"
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"en.20000121.3.5-049"2
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"Mr President, the founding of the Red Cross after the battle of Solferino was a response to an, until then, unknown dimension of cruelty, modern, total warfare, which was such a decisive feature of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the 21st century, we are experiencing, however, an ever greater proliferation of new forms of war in the shape of ethnic conflicts. Militias clash, or the opposing sides in civil wars or simply criminal gangs. Governments are either implicated in the conflicts or else they are completely, or largely, powerless to resolve them. Naturally, this also greatly jeopardises humanitarian and development aid. It is therefore our task as the European Parliament to focus very strongly upon this issue. We may well admire the contributions which people are making here in the fields of humanitarian and development aid, but we must also ensure that their living and working conditions improve.
I believe that we have quite a lot of catching up to do in this regard. We must see to it that the European Union in actual fact provides aid in every place where, for example, NGOs are doing so in an exemplary way. It is not only in South America that we have this set of problems. This week, we had the debate about Chechnya and, some time ago, the debate about Central Asia. Then, Mr Madelin addressed us on the subject of Afghanistan. And, again and again, we observe the same phenomenon: the withdrawal of humanitarian aid because safety is not being guaranteed. A number of NGOs demonstrate to us how, in spite of this, aid can be supplied, albeit under very perilous conditions. However, the European Union as well as other large organisations, such as the Red Cross, are all too often on the retreat.
We must be careful that this trend does not continue, for it is shamelessly exploited by some governments which then say that aid may only be provided to themselves and not directly, through the NGOs, at the coalface. That is dangerous because these governments are in fact not the solution to the problem but a part of it, and even the cause. We must therefore remain very firmly in control of the situation. For this reason, we are beginning, as a Parliament, to be very disappointed in our Commissioner responsible for this area, Mr Nielson.
I would ask you, Commissioner, to also convey this to Mr Nielson. For some weeks, dissatisfaction has been growing in this House. We had criticisms to make of Mrs Bonino in the administrative area, but Mrs Bonino was present. She was not only present in Parliament but had also visited the regions in crisis. The European Union had a human face where humanitarian and development aid were concerned. The Commission has a considerable amount of catching up to do in this area. We are slowly beginning here – I can detect this in all Groups – to develop a very critical attitude. I believe that we ought to move early to a situation in which we are again developing joint initiatives in this area for the purpose of stabilising the political sphere and supporting NGOs, but also of making the European Union’s presence felt, where necessary, at the coalface."@en1
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