Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-02-Speech-4-035"
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"en.20041202.5.4-035"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me say at the outset that Colombia matters to us, being a country in which a number of the European Union’s interests are involved, ranging from trade and investment to such issues as the production of and trade in drugs, criminal networks, terrorism, migratory flows and the regional dimension of the conflict that is going on there. More than anything else, though, values that we share with our Colombian friends are involved, such as respect for human rights, the rule of law and also the alleviation of poverty and sustainable economic development.
There are a number of priorities that we seek to achieve by means of this Community aid, which is administered by Colombia itself. One is the strengthening of institutions, especially in the justice system and where the rule of law is concerned;
this is very important. Secondly, we seek to support the peace process through what are termed ‘peace laboratories’, which are comprehensive programmes for integrated local development, intended primarily to complement peace initiatives at the local level. Finally, as I have already said, we seek to defend human rights and provide humanitarian aid, particularly for the victims of expulsions. It is thanks to the reforms to the administration of Community aid set in motion by my predecessor Chris Patten that net payments have increased to an enormous degree, reaching almost EUR 30 million as early as 2003.
I have attempted to set out what underlies a good policy for Colombia. I believe that we must continue down this road, and you can rely on the Commission to do so in future too.
So I thank you for affording me the opportunity to set out my assessment of the situation in Colombia and the policies that we want to adopt with respect to it. I will be discussing the strategic objective of our actions and the fundamental principles and instruments that underpin them, which we are applying with this objective in mind. The ongoing grave violations of human rights and the fact that the security situation is still very difficult for many Colombians naturally cause us grave disquiet and demand our full solidarity, above all with the Colombian people.
Our strategic objective is, then, the achievement of lasting peace and support for the Colombians to that end. Our strategy as a whole with regard to Colombia has the quest for a peaceful solution as its cornerstone. To this conflict there will be no purely military solution, and so it is important that we seek ways of coming to peaceful agreement even with illegally armed groupings, provided that they are willing to enter into real negotiations towards a peace treaty. In this light, the Commission attaches a great deal of importance to the good offices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, particularly in regard to his dealings with the illegal armed groups in Colombia. The current involvement of the Organisation of American States in the ‘Mission of support for the peace process in Colombia’
and the Mexican Government’s mediation between the Colombian Government and the
both represent very valuable contributions. All the illegal armed groups must put an end to hostilities; they have also been required to demonstrate their willingness to at last embark on the peace process by immediately and unconditionally releasing all hostages and all other persons held by them.
We in the European Union must consider how we can provide funding to support the peace negotiations as soon as a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the armed groups is in place. We are convinced that Colombia’s vibrant civil society, too, plays a vital part in these peace negotiations by engaging in ongoing dialogue with the Colombian Government and with the international community.
Our aim in the shorter term is to secure compliance with the undertakings given at the 2003 London Conference by the international community and the Colombian Government. While we must hold to our commitments as regards financial aid, the Colombian Government must also abide by those it has made, particularly those relating to respect for human rights, which it made to the United Nations High Commissioner responsible for these matters.
The meeting called by the Colombian Government for 3 and 4 February 2005 will present a very good opportunity both to reiterate the international community’s solidarity with the Colombian people and to issue a reminder regarding the undertakings that have been given.
Our strategy with regard to Colombia is based, then, on three fundamental principles: firstly the promotion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, which goes hand in hand with monitoring of the human rights situation. The second is that of good governance, which involves our giving support to the Colombian Government, particularly in its efforts to build up the rule of law. Thirdly, of course, there is sustainable development, especially the development of social cohesion, which was also discussed at the May summit in Guadalajara.
The European Union and the Commission are deploying all the foreign policy instruments available to them in order to achieve these objectives. One of these is that of active diplomacy, whereby we support the international peace process. Another important instrument is the extremely favourable trade arrangements for Colombian exports, by which I mean the proposal we have put forward for the General System of Preferences, which will enable trade preferences for Colombia’s exports to be maintained, and which also of course benefits sustainable economic development. The third instrument is development aid.
Consideration of Community aid as such, whereby the EU Member States provide bilateral aid, reveals that the Commission really has discharged its obligations. I believe we can take pride in having in fact done more than we undertook to do. At the end of the current programming period, we will be able to go further, and, at the 2001 donors’ conference, we announced EUR 140 million for Colombia for the 2001 – 2006 period, the largest sum that we spend on any one country in Latin America. By the end of 2003 we had already committed EUR 136 million, and I am persuaded that we will, between 2004 and 2006, have allocated all these amounts, which are in fact substantially in excess of what had been promised."@en1
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"Ejercito de la Liberación nacional"1
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