Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-14-Speech-4-169"
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"en.20020314.8.4-169"2
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"Mr President, I can actually speak before Mrs Auroi, in order to give her time to arrive.
I believe that the European institutions can work together in this aspect, and we hope that the Commission can indeed help to resolve this deadly and longstanding conflict.
Various political groups tabled motions for resolutions and then we agreed on a joint motion for a resolution, that should now – I believe – have the support of most of the House. As previous speakers have said, the situation in Colombia is a painful issue for all of us, because we had great hopes for the successful conclusion of the peace process.
President Pastrana has dedicated his mandate almost entirely to these efforts, with a series of very generous concessions to the guerrilla organisations: he has opened negotiations, both with FARC and the ELN and yet has achieved little.
In specific terms, he has given FARC a territory the size of Switzerland, an entire enclave in which they can travel with absolute freedom, and lastly, when it still looked as though negotiations might break down, President Pastrana even extended the agreements or negotiations, in an attempt to conclude an agreement. During this extension phase, FARC launched a campaign of kidnappings and murders, which culminated in the murder of Senator Daniels and the kidnapping of a presidential candidate, Mrs Ingrid Betancourt. At the same time, FARC is continuing its extortion activities, claiming a supposed right to impose taxes on drug-trafficking organisations, which I believe has completely stripped it of any legitimacy, because an organisation that takes part in acts of gratuitous violence and which, furthermore, tries to make money out of drugs trafficking, ultimately loses any basis for legitimacy.
At the moment, therefore, we are rather disillusioned and feel a degree of despair, although this does not mean that we are going to give up on the possibility that an agreement can be reached.
In other words, the first aspect is to state that FARC has failed to meet its commitments and has all but abandoned the peace process; it has made it impossible for the government to negotiate, because you cannot negotiate with killers and kidnappers. On the other hand, it is necessary to try to restart the peace process and to leave the door open for negotiations.
We in the European Union have always supported this process of negotiation, including practical proposals, designed to alleviate some of the specific social problems. It has become clear that the definitive solution to the problem of Colombia does not simply involve an end to the violence, but that we must get to the root of the social and economic problems that are causing this. In order to reach that point, however, peace must first be achieved on the ground.
I do not know at the moment whether it is possible to add a little trust and calm to the situation, but I would say that the European Union has – where the problem of Colombia is concerned – the advantage of distance and, furthermore, the willingness it has always shown to help Colombia with its exports, for example, in a range of key sectors.
Our resolution aims, therefore, on the one hand, to illustrate the responsibility of those who have caused the breakdown of the peace process and, on the other, to leave the door to negotiation open and to call on the European institutions to patiently continue with this lengthy and complicated task, by providing the aid necessary to make this process easier and, of course, by not giving in to despair, and instead by trusting that, ultimately, there will be a return to reason and to the negotiating table."@en1
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