Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-164"
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"en.20000412.5.3-164"2
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"Madam President, I gladly concur with the previous speakers, Mr Patten and Mr Corrie. We all witnessed the fight against hunger ten years ago. We subsequently visited many projects and saw many things, such as very expert local farmers who were involved in reconstruction projects both in Eritrea and Ethiopia. I find Ethiopia’s criticism hard to take: Europe undertakes too little, you need to send food. Meanwhile the logistical capacity, such as lorries, roads and money, is used to wage a regional war. The least both parties could do is to impose an absolute freeze on military activity. If we talk about distributing food fast to the right places, then these lorries are needed, and these lorries were the force behind the movement which now leads Ethiopia and the movement which leads Eritrea. Both have a great deal of logistical experience, expertise and know-how. If they really channel their energies – and want to channel their energies – into what is available at this stage, if they want to make their ports and roads available, their capacity would be enormous. According to them, we are entirely to blame. But there is huge responsibility on the part of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and they should not try to throw it back at us using a cheap marketing trick. They are jointly responsible. Put a freeze on the military trade, try to reach a peace agreement and meanwhile, deploy your military lorry capacity and manpower where they are needed.
My second point concerns food. There is enormous pressure to send food fast, and I mean fast. Experience has taught us that things can go very far wrong depending on how food is distributed, and it could well end up sitting in the warehouses. I would suggest looking at all the options – this will certainly be done by the monitoring clubs of the EU now in Ethiopia. Is there anything for sale locally in the region? We were right to turn our food aid policy round. We should not send our surpluses there but examine whether anything can be bought locally. After all, anything we can get and arrange there will help their economy and will prevent the local situation from being distorted. Because, ultimately, that is what causes the structural hardship which accompanies these wars. I hope that the early warning facility, which involved a great many experts, will also be built into our ability to receive signals at an earlier stage. It is not easy. Everyone knows that, but it could be an enormous bonus in removing the image of inadequacy when we handle such situations. Ethiopia and Eritrea bear the ultimate responsibility. I give my full backing to any action undertaken by the Commission on this score."@en1
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