Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-093"
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"en.20021009.7.3-093"2
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"Madam President, might I be permitted to emphasise that the signing of the association agreement really has signified a turning point and opened a new chapter in our relations with Algeria. It is the Council’s view that the signing of this agreement clearly shows that, in order to stimulate trade and investment, the Algerian authorities have a desire to maintain and step up their efforts on behalf of the necessary reform process. That ought also to find expression in political and social reforms. A clear signal is also being sent to investors to the effect that Algeria undertakes to create a constructive environment for international enterprises. It is primarily a question of intergovernmental relations, but the agreement also provides a framework for the commercial world and civil society. The agreement is also of significance for the EU’s entire Mediterranean policy, and it is a further step towards setting up a Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area. The purpose of the agreement is also to promote that sub-regional cooperation between the Mediterranean partners themselves that is so important to a positive outcome of the Barcelona process.
The association agreement contains an article on the movement of persons, and the EU has in this way pledged to look into the possibility of simplifying and speeding up the procedures for issuing visas to certain persons. This provision must find expression in the implementation rules for the agreement. Once the agreement has come into force, the bodies set up under it will have to investigate how it will be possible to implement this pledge concerning visas, taking account of course of the EU’s policy at the relevant time.
With regard to respect for human rights, the Council is monitoring very carefully the issues relating to respect for human rights in Algeria, and specifically within the political dialogue with Algeria that has taken place at ministerial level since 1997. In this way, the Council, which is represented in the troika, is given the opportunity regularly to address these issues and vigorously to emphasise that there must be no violation or abuse of human rights, including in connection with combating terrorism.
The association agreement will now provide greater opportunities for following up this issue and for supporting the Algerian authorities in this connection. I would point out that, as is well known, the agreement makes respect for human rights an essential feature forming the basis of the parties’ external and internal policies. It also provides an institutional framework for regular political dialogue at different levels, and specifically at Association Council level, concerning all subjects of common interest. As long as respect for human rights is a problem in Algeria, the issue will be on the agendas of the joint meetings. As soon as the agreement has come into force, that will apply both to the political dialogue, established in 1997, and to the bodies concerned with the agreement, namely the Association Council and the Association Committee.
The Council does not intend to take any steps concerning the situation in Kabylia, for it regards the matter as being in the first place an internal Algerian issue. However, the Council looks favourably upon the important decision taken recently to give the Tamazight language the status of a national language.
In June 2001, the Gothenburg European Council made it an urgent matter generally to call upon all those in responsible positions in Algeria to make efforts to bring the present confrontations and violence to an end. It encouraged the authorities to launch a political initiative to solve the crisis with the aid of dialogue between all Algerians. The situation remains difficult and complex, however, as may be seen from the low turnout at the parliamentary election on 30 May 2002. The October local elections will also be able to provide an important indication of the situation in the region. Improvement at the socio-economic level would aid the search for a solution, and we have every desire to help with the efforts aimed at economic reforms. We are supporting these by means of the Meda Regulation, providing EUR 240 million for the period 2000-2004, and by means of the loans from the European Investment Bank, amounting to EUR 620 million since 1996. Once it has been put in place, the new investment facility should also contribute to improving the economic situation in Algeria.
According to the association agreement, the Association Council can facilitate cooperation and contacts between the European Parliament and Algeria’s parliamentary institutions, as well as between the Economic and Social Committee and the corresponding body in Algeria. I should like to emphasise that the Council takes a positive view of the conclusions of the latest meeting of the parliamentary Euro-Mediterranean Forum in Bari in June 2002, emphasising the parliamentary dimension of our partnership with the southern Mediterranean countries. We are in the process of looking into which cooperation mechanisms can be used for setting up such a Euro-Mediterranean assembly."@en1
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