Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-046"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021009.5.3-046"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I wish to address myself in particular to the Danish Presidency, the Minister for European Affairs, Mr Haarder, and the External Relations Commissioner, Mr Patten. These are two people in whom I have the utmost confidence.
In my opinion, there are three main questions which we, as Europeans and democrats, must answer. The first concerns how to prevent weapons of mass destruction being produced, distributed, sold to international terrorists and used in Europe, the Middle East and throughout the world. How are we to prevent this?
The second question concerns the UN Security Council. There are many powerful forces at work here in the European Parliament looking to restrict the veto as far as possible. Faced with the prospect of an enlarged EU with 25 Member States, a large majority in this Parliament is saying that we shall be unable to make decisions unless the veto is abolished. At the same time, we find ourselves in a situation in which a Communist government in Beijing in China, whose record on human rights does it little credit, actually has an unlimited right of veto when it comes to the international community’s most important bodies, the UN and the UN Security Council, and the ways in which they are to act to prevent violence and preserve world peace. This same right is enjoyed by Moscow, Paris, London and Washington.
The third question concerns how we are to be able to bring about a change in the Middle East. The Middle East can be depicted as a pressure cooker, in which the water is bubbling and seething. The lid is still on the pan, but the moment when all the steam could escape is imminent. There are many people in this Parliament who consider that military action against Iraq would lead to the whole of the Middle East being plunged into horrors and into complete disaster. Is, however, a conservative policy, in which everything is allowed to continue as before – with UN inspectors degraded and humiliated and unable to do their jobs, while Saddam Hussein, the dictator and mass murderer who had five thousand Kurds gassed in Halabja, remains in power in Baghdad – a route that will lead to democracy and human rights in Iraq and the Middle East? Has not the time come for us in Europe to take responsibility for beginning a process of change in favour of democracy and human rights and against the spread of weapons of terror from the region in question? What would be your answers to these questions?"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples