Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-04-Speech-3-045"
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"en.20020904.1.3-045"2
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"Mr President, I should like to express my thanks for a good debate with many sound viewpoints and many good pieces of advice. It is a difficult matter we are debating, but it is also a very simple matter. I have very deliberately confined myself to the crux of the matter, namely that the EU wishes to put maximum pressure on the dictator, Saddam Hussein to get him to comply with the UN resolution and the conditions to which he himself has agreed. That is not a weak but, on the contrary, a strong position. Everything we say and do must put maximum pressure upon Saddam Hussein. Strong and combined international pressure of this kind is the only thing that can induce him to respond. I would therefore thank you for all the reflections that have contributed to this agreement to put such pressure upon Saddam, and I would ask you to appreciate that, because of the need to do this, I am neither able nor willing to adopt positions on all contingencies.
I can assure both Mr Barón Crespo and others that what Mr Patten said was, in every detail, in accordance with what is the common EU position, confirmed once again in Elsinore at the weekend. It was an informal meeting with no new decisions taken, but I can readily divulge that there was support for maintaining the existing policy and for the importance of broad consultation on the part of the United States, including consultation with Arab states. There was agreement about the inspectors now having to be given the opportunity of entering Iraq and there was concern about the weapons of mass destruction that not only the United States but also UNSCOM have reasons for suspecting are being produced and that may be a deadly danger to peace in the Middle East and in the rest of the world. The EU supports the UN’s efforts. A regime such as Saddam Hussein’s can only be expected to be prepared to comply with its obligations if there is strong and combined pressure from the international community.
I should like to say to Baroness Nicholson and Mrs Napoletano that the Council fully supports Parliament’s desire that everyone who has committed war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity should be held to account for their actions. That also applies of course to those responsible for the Iraqi regime’s many crimes, and it is something for which preparations must be made in time. In connection with this, I should like to say that I am able to confirm what Mrs Maes said, to the effect that the Danish Presidency has set a deadline of a month for a dialogue with the United States on the International Criminal Court. I am able to confirm that this is what was at issue.
Mr Barón Crespo would have liked me to report on the EU’s latest efforts to help solve the Middle East conflict. I cannot give a detailed answer to his request but, like Mr Patten, I am able to inform you that my colleague, Mr Møller, is in the Middle East right now to present a proposal from the EU for a practical timetable or ‘road map’ for establishing a legitimate Palestinian state by June 2005. We are confident that there is broad support for this initiative, which can contribute significantly to further progress in the positive process which the Quartet has succeeded in setting in motion and in which we must place all our hopes."@en1
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