Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-16-Speech-4-210"
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"en.20000316.7.4-210"2
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"Mr President, the majority of the Security Council – France, China, Russia – is now in favour, subject to certain conditions, of lifting the embargo imposed on Iraq nearly ten years ago. Imposed on the Iraqi people I should say. The UN inspectors responsible for monitoring disarmament in Iraq have destroyed or ordered the destruction of the stocks of arms, material and products that could lead to the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. They have made sure that Iraq has no long-range missiles that could threaten its neighbours. The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded, after a number of investigations on the ground, that Iraq has no capacity to produce nuclear weapons, as has been confirmed by the reports of three groups of experts on Iraq, and as the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1284 confirms today. That is why our resolution calls for this embargo to be lifted.
Nonetheless, the US Government refuses to definitively lift the embargo, on the pretext that Iraq has not respected its obligations. Without offering the slightest proof, Washington continues to accuse Iraq of secretly manufacturing biological and chemical weapons. In response to this concern – which, according to the experts, is unfounded – France has proposed to the Security Council that the lifting of the embargo be accompanied by further inspections relating to disarmament and by controls on Iraqi imports.
Washington has refused this proposal too, thus creating a situation which primarily hits the Iraqi people and not their leaders. According to the UN humanitarian agencies, several hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including some 500 000 children, have died prematurely because of the embargo, for lack of food, medicines or adequate care. For the first time in ten years, an American delegation of advisors and congressmen published a report yesterday, on 14 March, on their return from a visit to Iraq. In it they call for the embargo to be lifted for humanitarian reasons. According to that delegation, the ‘oil for food’ programme is a totally inadequate response to the urgent physical needs of the Iraqis. Mr Eric Rouleau, the former French Ambassador, speaks of a slow-motion genocide.
Our resolution therefore calls for an end to this situation. However, we also think we need a broader debate on this subject. That is why we are not putting this resolution to the vote today. On an issue as serious as this one, we prefer, first of all, to call for a Commission and Council declaration. We are therefore proposing that this debate be deferred to the month of April. At that time, we will endeavour to obtain the support of all those who want to bring this inhumane embargo to an end and to do so, needless to say, without giving Saddam Hussein’s regime a blank cheque."@en1
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