Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-09-16-Speech-4-114"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2004-09-16"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:ASEM Summit (Asia-Europe Meeting)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20040916.5.4-114"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2004-09-16-Speech-4-1152
lpv:speaker	lp:Geoffrey Van Orden2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, this is the fourth resolution that I have tabled on Burma in the last 18 months, but the situation continues to deteriorate and the Council's reaction is pusillanimous. The Burmese military dictatorship is now in its 43rd year of illegitimate rule. It is 15 years since Aung San Suu Kyi was first put under house arrest and 14 years since the SPDC decided to disregard the will of the Burmese people as expressed in the 1990 elections. In spite of this, the Council's message that is now being sent to the Burmese dictatorship is that it is an acceptable and welcome member of the international community, irrespective of its oppressive activities. In 1997 Burma's entry into ASEAN was heralded as a means to exert pressure on the regime. All we have heard from ASEAN is mild rebuke. The Burmese dictatorship ignored this and nothing more has happened. Six years after Burma joined ASEAN, oppression in the country has intensified and any return to democratic rule remains a distant prospect. This October ASEAN intends to include Burma at the ASEM V summit in Hanoi. I am the first to understand that Europe's relationship with ASEAN is widely based and most important. It should not be hostage to Burma, but that is what the ASEAN states are allowing to happen. The Asian governments must realise that they may be sacrificing a rewarding partnership with the European Union for the sake of a morally bankrupt regime in Burma. We must demand Burma's exclusion from ASEM until it complies with the demands of the international community. I am sorry to say that there are some similarities with the situation concerning Zimbabwe. There again we have an atrocious regime, which in many respects is even more abusive to its people than the Burma dictatorship. There again we have had half-hearted sanctions by the EU going through the motions of taking action, but in effect allowing the regime off the hook because of the self-interested agenda of one or two of our Member States. There again neighbouring states have the key to change, but for their own misguided reasons refused to turn it. The EU does not put pressure on them. We need the ASEAN states to insist on the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and on freedom for the NLD opposition. The EU Foreign Ministers must demand that they do this before Burma is allowed to sit down with them in Hanoi."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2004-09-15--2007-03-13)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) (2004-09-15--2007-03-13)3 member; EPP-ED (2004-07-20--2004-11-13)3 vice-chair; AFET (2004-07-22--2007-01-14)3 member; SEDE (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 member; Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 substitute; TRAN (2004-07-22--2007-01-14)3 unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Van Orden (PPE-DE )."1

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