Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-25-Speech-3-202"
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"en.20001025.8.3-202"2
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"Mr President, the new cooperation Agreement signed in Cotonou represents an ideal opportunity to correct the deficiencies noted in previous measures and to clarify concepts and standards for action in specific situations in which we cooperate with the ACP Countries, for example, in the situation that gave rise to the Commission Communication which concerns us here and to the reports by Mr Van Hecke and Mrs Maes, that is, what should happen when an associate country is involved in armed conflict.
Along the lines of what was said by the rapporteurs, we think the European Union will have to revise its programmes of aid to countries at war, amongst other reasons to prevent the funds allocated from being diverted to military activities. Also as a matter of principle, it should reconsider support to countries or regimes responsible for armed invasions of neighbouring countries or that spend a disproportionate amount of their resources on arms, if not on operations to repress the rights of the individual or minorities within their own population.
We must bear in mind Article 11 of the new Treaty which states the European commitment to policies of building peace and preventing and resolving armed conflict. The dialogue between the opposing parties and the dialogue of the European Union with these same parties must be the key mechanism of these actions.
Like Mrs Maes, we are perplexed at the paradoxical behaviour, in which we see how, since the creation of the European Union, millions of euros of aid have been approved for countries that are clearly involved in the military occupation of one or other of their neighbours. In this respect, the double standards with which aid policy is sometimes applied are unacceptable, and we are also concerned by the contradictions that can arise in the conduct of Member States, or some States, and the European Union itself. I think Parliament would benefit from greater transparency, coherence, information and control over these policies.
Finally, we must understand that the reduction or freezing of our development aid for a specific country at war would often need to be accompanied by additional efforts in humanitarian aid to the people of the country, who are the main victims of such conflicts. Here again, the intervention of trustworthy NGOs is essential, enabling such programmes to be carried out with guarantees of success and effectiveness."@en1
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