Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-091"
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"en.20021009.7.3-091"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioners, President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Cohn-Bendit, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me to table the question here and also to make a number of comments on behalf of our rapporteur – if he is not here – on the conclusion of an association agreement with Algeria. The Committee on Foreign Affairs did not make things easy for itself in this respect. We therefore also postponed our decision until we were able to hold a discussion with the Algerian Foreign Minister, to whom we put questions on a wide range of issues, notably concerning compliance with key aspects of this agreement and especially the clauses on human rights and democracy. This is also an important question for the Council and the Commission. How much confidence is there that these provisions will be complied with? Under Article 2 of the agreement, and with the involvement of this Parliament, it should after all be guaranteed that importance is attached in future to ensuring that such clauses do not simply remain abstract elements of these agreements but form part of an operational policy designed to make sure that appropriate developments genuinely take place in such countries.
I believe that it is in our common interest that we should have peaceful and democratic development, based on the rule of law, throughout the Mediterranean region, and therefore also in Algeria. This is why it is right for these relations to be developed in order to enforce such positions. In this context, the Council and the Commission must use all the instruments to ensure that the death penalty is abolished, that genuine cooperation is established in the fight against terrorism, and that progress is made on issues relating to decentralised decision-making structures, taking account of the different conditions within the country, and in particular, to ensure that progress is made on economic and social development which deprives terrorism of its breeding-ground. I believe that these are key tasks, which should be tackled on the basis of this agreement so that it can become a genuinely useful instrument.
In this context, it is naturally also of interest to us to find out, in view of the European Union's policies, to what extent free movement of persons can genuinely be developed in this area, and, furthermore, how issues such as asylum policy can be dealt with. In particular, of course, we are keen to hear why inter-parliamentary relations do not merit a single mention in this new agreement. I believe that if we wish to promote democratic development in any country, it is extremely important to support parliamentary developments in an appropriate way in order, on the basis of inter-parliamentary dialogue, to set in train a mutual learning process and strengthen a country's democratic development. I would be pleased if the Council and Commission could answer this question. In particular, I am interested in hearing how the current Treaty can be used to promote this development, irrespective of what the Treaty says.
For these reasons, I would like to ask everyone to vote for this agreement. In line with the resolutions which we have tabled in this House, however, we intend to monitor the implementation of this agreement on an ongoing basis and look very carefully at what you, the Council and the Commission, are doing, so that we ensure that our notions of democracy and human rights, as well as the joint campaign against terrorism, can flow into a progressively positive common policy. On this, I ask for your support!"@en1
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