Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-284"
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"en.20010314.12.3-284"2
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"As Mr Fava said in his excellent introductory speech, democratic elections are the essential foundations for sustainable development, as well as of course for sustainable democracy and pluralism. The Union supports and intends to continue supporting election processes in countries in transition towards established democracy as a key element in our external relations policy.
Sustainability is important too. Support for democracy, as Parliament rightly points out, is a long-term process. The Commission believes that the recommendations of our missions must be built into development strategies and also into our political dialogue with the country concerned. For example, the President of Sri Lanka will be visiting President Prodi and myself later this week. We will urge her to implement the recommendations made by successive observation missions, including the one led by Mr Cushnahan, above all for the establishment of a truly independent elections commissioner. The aim should be to promote changes and build capacity so that international observation becomes unnecessary.
On coordination with other organisations and the building up of domestic capacities, I would like to stress that the European Union has worked with many international organisations and NGOs on election assistance and observation and we intend to use the same approach in the future.
Parliament's report deals with a hugely important subject. The European Union stands above all for democracy and the values enshrined in the rule of law, pluralism and civil liberties. We all know that democracy and democratisation, on which our development policy is largely based, are about more than just elections. But properly held and freely conducted elections are a necessary if not sufficient condition for democracy. So it must be right for this European Union, increasingly and rightly seen as one of the bastions of democracy in the world, to devote much greater effort to promoting free and fair elections in countries where the rights which we are too often inclined to take for granted are still fragile or under threat.
I would like to congratulate Mr Fava once again on his report which offers sensible and valuable advice as to how we can raise our game in this whole area. We look forward to working very closely with Parliament in carrying this work forward and once again I want to commend those Members of the Parliament who have already played such a distinguished role in trying to ensure that democratisation is a reality in countries all over the world.
The Commission communication on electoral assistance and observation was a response to a request from Parliament and the speeches this evening have indicated that we responded in the right sort of way with the right observations and arguments. The communication was designed to boost our performance in this whole area. The case-by-case approach previously followed was, it is generally agreed, no longer acceptable. Wheels were too often reinvented and roles too often confused.
In the Commission we want to see all three institutions fully engaged in the Union's support for democratisation, so I very much welcome this report. It is a useful complement to the communication which highlights the European Parliament's unique added value as the European Union's own democratically elected body. I would like in particular to comment on a few issues raised by the report.
First, a few remarks on coordination and information among the European Union institutions, which I consider to be absolutely essential. I would certainly welcome the adoption of appropriate arrangements among the European institutions to reinforce our coordination and to better define our roles and responsibilities, including the establishment of a Parliament election coordination group. Our coordination should begin with a definition of European Union priorities, based on an exchange of views on an election calendar which the Commission now produces. We cannot and should not observe or support every election. Human and financial resources are limited and many countries have no need for outside support. So prioritisation is essential and Parliament should contribute to this. A regular discussion, perhaps every six months as suggested by the report, would be very welcome.
Before we decide on how and whether to observe a particular election, exploratory needs assessment missions are now the rule. We will share their findings with other institutions in order to involve Parliament at an early stage, as the report suggests that we should. Such missions will determine the nature of our observation. As stressed in the report and the communication, elections are not one-day events. Observation of the different stages of the electoral process – registration, nomination, polling, counting and appeals – are crucial.
The Commission is not interested in election tourism. Normally the advanced part of the European Union election mission will start at least five or six weeks before the polling day. The core mission must be experienced and have appropriate technical expertise. The involvement of members of this House in electoral observation missions plainly makes considerable sense. As the Commission notes, MEPs, as elected representatives, have a profound knowledge of all aspects of electoral issues.
The Commission wants to cooperate fully with the Parliament in this respect and to integrate any parliamentary delegation, if it so wishes, into the European Union election observation mission. It would also be involved in the training, briefing, de-briefing and deployment of observers. When participating in missions observers are, of course, bound by the European Union code of conduct for electoral observation and the general principle that the European Union must speak with one voice. So the chief observer must be the only spokesman for the EU election observation mission.
Mrs Kinnock asked how we intended to pursue this work in the Commission. We are currently finalising a restructuring of tasks between the Europe Aid Cooperation Office, the Directorate-General for Development and my own external relations DG. The idea is to establish, for each election in which we are involved, an election team comprising all the services concerned. Once the restructuring is finalised we intend to inform Parliament of the exact sharing of tasks and, of course, we are prepared to provide a list of staff as Mrs Kinnock has asked.
I believe that the recent experiences where Members of this Parliament, for example Mr Schori and Mr Cushnahan, have been appointed chief observer have been extremely successful and should be repeated. The visibility of European Union action is important. The best visibility is obtained by running an effective and professional operation. However, the chief observer should, I would hope, be reasonably media-savvy and politically experienced."@en1
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