Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-21-Speech-4-044"
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"en.20000921.2.4-044"2
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"Mr President, racism is indeed a scourge affecting our society. It is even one of the most appalling human failings, and no one has a monopoly on it. Often, it is the product of fear, ignorance, foolishness and selfishness, but also of institutional cowardice. If a society wishes to call itself truly civilised, it has a duty to track down, prohibit, punish and eradicate racism by means of education and prosecution.
Europe wishes to be a civilised society, and has the opportunity every day to show that it is. Parliament is required to give an opinion on the European Union’s position at the World Conference Against Racism. Our position must be clear, intelligible and specific.
Our position must be clear, without going into unnecessary details. Personally, I am all in favour of brief texts. It must be up-to-date, i.e. it must take account of the new means of communications which can also be used as media for the expression of racist views.
Our position must be intelligible. That is to say, it must be structured around the major key ideas establishing a method: the identification of racism, particularly with the aid of our partners, the NGOs or our own monitoring centres, the punishment of racism, with the idea of zero tolerance and, of course, the prevention of racism.
Our position must be specific. That is to say, beyond the universal value of the fight against racism, there must be a specifically European message, for, let us be clear about this, Europe has often been the home of racism. We can, moreover, even see the revival of racism in some European Union countries. In such instances we have a duty to remember and a duty to be vigilant.
Our message must be an ambitious one. We must be a role model. As the Commissioner pointed out, we do not lack the resources to combat discrimination or racism in general.
We are currently drawing up a Charter of Fundamental Rights, the first article of which prioritises human dignity. That, I believe, is the reason why the PPE has become involved in framing this text. We want to ensure that it is rid of all the pointlessly contentious dross to do with the current situation and free of any additions which do not contribute to the formulation of the text. In this, as the Commission, the Council of Ministers and Parliament, we have a shared responsibility and we want to be very scrupulous about this common approach, as Europe’s credibility, at this World Conference Against Racism, will depend, above all, on our assessment of the situation and on how credible we are on our own territory."@en1
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