Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-21-Speech-4-214"
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"en.20021121.11.4-214"2
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"Mr President, it was on 23 October, not even a month ago, that we discussed, here in this Parliament, the human rights situation. We all condemned the death sentences and stonings and the general way in which this inhumane Iranian regime treats its people. At that time we also expressed regret – at least my group did – that the Council had decided not to table a human rights motion on Iran at the next meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Now, only a short time later, someone is sentenced to death when all he has done is to urge people to think things over, not to let their opinions be decided for them and not to blindly follow religious dogmatism.
In this situation the European Union is continuing to negotiate a cooperation agreement involving economic cooperation. One of the statements in the motion is inadequate in my view. It is obviously good if future cooperation agreements contain a human rights clause. But I think it would be better – and I am saying this on behalf of my group – if there were no cooperation agreements at all and if they were not even concluded while human rights are not respected. It is schizophrenic. We only have a limited number of options when it actually comes to bringing pressure to bear. We should not give up the possibility of exerting economic pressure on Iran.
Of course it is positive that the students are going out onto the streets. Of course it is positive that President Khatami is saying that this verdict is unacceptable. Of course it is positive that the Speaker in the Iranian Parliament is taking the same line. But this has not come anywhere near to forcing a restructuring of Iranian society. It is no accident either, in my view, that the Iranian religious leaders and the Iranian Government intend to remove the legitimate opposition in Iran by trying to make them out to be terrorist organisations and having them all put on the corresponding list so that they will have eliminated this opposition once and for all. I think that we too have a great responsibility here. We need to take more notice of who is put on these lists and why. We should ask more questions; the European Union should not always stand to one side like a junior prison warder.
That is why we are calling on the Commission to make it quite clear at the next negotiations that there will not be any cooperation with Iran, economic or otherwise, for as long as this inhumane system remains as contemptuous of human rights as it is at present."@en1
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