Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-09-15-Speech-3-095"
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"en.20040915.4.3-095"2
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"Mr President, my observations are, above all, inspired by my role as member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I realise that although the EU’s role is modest for the time being, it can nevertheless help determine the quality of democracy in future. My questions are concrete and I should say beforehand that I welcome the proposal by the President-in-Office of the Council to perhaps send a fact-finding mission to Iraq later on this year. My first question is about spending EU funding in Iraq itself. It appears to me that for practical considerations, it has been decided to spend these monies mainly via the existing, traditional channels in a bid to make the greatest possible impact. However, as a result of this, it looks as if minorities, and I am particularly referring to the Assyrian minority, which accounts for 10% of the population and mainly consists of Christians, are at risk of falling by the wayside. That would be harrowing, because they also suffered the effects of Saddam Hussein’s arabisation programme, and are now also suffering repression in the Kurdish region. Could the Commission, and also the Council, say a little more about how the funds will be spent, particularly where this minority and other small minorities are concerned?
My second point concerns the draft constitution, in which Arabic and Kurdish are recognised as official languages. Assyrian, however, is not, despite the fact that more than 10% of the population speak it. What role can the European Union play on this score in order to guarantee the positions of minorities and also in respect of minority languages in the new Iraq and Iraqi society?"@en1
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