Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-15-Speech-3-178"
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"en.20030115.10.3-178"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have just returned from Lebanon where I went before Christmas with Jean-Marie Le Pen. We were made as welcome by the Lebanese press as by such well-known figures as the Maronite patriarch Monsignor Sfeir, or the former Head of State Mr Amin Gemayel. How can we fail to feel considerable affection for this refined, friendly people that has overcome with great courage the suffering of almost twenty years of frequently horrific foreign and civil war? It should encourage us to consider the dangers of removing borders when, in Lebanon, the refugees have begun to speak as if they were running the country. Consider also the risks posed by many aspects of the multicultural society that some would like to see developing at all costs in Europe, where it did not exist until now.
In principle we are in favour of developing relations with this country of great culture and ancient traditions, that is so close to Europe in general, and in particular the French-speaking tradition that I, amongst others, represent here. We can only deal, however, with a sovereign State, a peaceful, honest and impartial State.
A sovereign State naturally means the withdrawal of the Syrian troops, whose presence is no longer justified, as almost all the previous speakers have said, since the Israeli occupation ended in southern Lebanon. The resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, in particular, should be followed by practical action and this withdrawal should be complete, just as Syrian pressure on Lebanese domestic policy should cease.
A peaceful State means an end to the repression, also mentioned by other speakers, practised against students, political dissidents, and Christians in particular. That means that certain post-war procedures or processes, which could legitimately be described as Stalinist, should cease; that the general amnesty should be extended to all. Saying this, I am thinking in particular of the terrible fate of the former leader of the Lebanese forces, Samir Geagea, the only leader of a faction to have taken part in these conflicts who has now been in prison, on military premises, in a building with no light, for eight years. Nobody there understands, or rather everyone understands only too well, why Samir Geagea is in prison, while the leader Walid Jumblatt, whose excesses were every bit as bad as the worst offenders in this conflict, occupies a quasi-official post.
Lastly, an honest, impartial State means an end to the political racketeering that results all too often from reconstruction in this country ravaged by war. These are the three conditions for the agreement that we want with all our hearts to reach optimum effectiveness."@en1
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