Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-183"

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"en.20030212.5.3-183"2
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"Mr President, Parliament is today being called upon to debate a situation which, though it is beyond the borders of our continent, constitutes both a major risk to the unity of Europe and a full-scale test of our countries’ capacity to assert their humanist values at an absolutely critical point in our history. I do not want to understate the disagreements that we are seeing on the international scene, or the need to reach a rapid agreement, in Europe first and then in the United Nations, on the assessment of the risks which are actually facing us and of the diplomatic, political and military means by which we can protect ourselves against them. It seems to me that most of the comments in the media are designed to appeal to the emotions rather than to provide an objective analysis of the situation. The international community as a whole unanimously condemns the current Iraqi regime, its contempt for the most basic human rights, even those of its own people, and its consistent failure to comply with United Nations resolutions, even when it is not busy invading sovereign states. It is against this background that the members of the United Nations, and primarily those of the Security Council, must work steadily towards a consensus on the best way of settling the Iraqi question. In a civilised and democratic world, the world to which we are appealing and the world which the current Iraqi regime is denigrating and making a mockery of, the proper response to a situation of this kind could certainly be a military one, but only after all other possible solutions have been exhausted. Before that, all reasonable solutions should be explored and attempted, or at least that is the idea which we, the representatives of free and democratic countries, have the honour and the duty to recommend and to put into practice. It seems to me to be pointless to compare the current situation with the situation in Europe in the thirties, to caricature the position of the United States, which is quite rightly coloured by the events of 11 September, or to focus attention on the differences of opinion between Europeans, who are split between intensified diplomatic action before any assault and immediate military intervention without any additional delay. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a question of peace or of war, of the life or the death of many human beings. That is what is at stake here, and it leaves little room for taking up positions which are demagogic, precipitate or tactical. Let us all, together, show our sang-froid and our capacity for reflection, and we shall overcome our differences."@en1

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