Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-276"
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"en.20051213.57.2-276"2
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".
Mr President, the Commission is very concerned about the situation of human rights and freedom of expression in Tunisia. What brings me to Parliament today is a series of incidents that occurred at the recent World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, an event in which both Members of Parliament and the Commission were present.
As regards enhanced cooperation between governments – the second process – Mr Annan wanted first of all to know what the intentions of the United States and the European Union were. I confirmed that it was our intention to prepare an initial position statement at European level by mid-February. Together with the Member States, we must now define the process that will enable political principles in relation to Internet governance and the transparent and responsible implementation of these principles to be attained.
Mr President, unfortunately, the summit was overshadowed by events that prompted the Commission to mark its strong disagreement as to the way the Tunisian authorities interfered with civil society events, creating difficulties even for the European Parliament-Commission Joint Workshop on Human Rights, not to mention the restrictions on expression experienced both before and during the summit.
On behalf of the Commission, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner has already expressed our concerns to the Tunisian Government, and we have pointed out that it was difficult for us to believe that the incidents were just the result of an ‘unfortunate’ misunderstanding. We also explained that in the absence of positive reactions it will be more and more difficult for the Commission to continue its constructive approach.
Secondly, an EU demarche on human rights is being considered by Member States, and the Commission will participate fully. The intention is to express our regrets vis-à-vis the recent events and reiterate our demands of last October: first, to unblock EU-funded civil society projects; second, to make progress on the implementation of the judicial reform programme; and, third, to create a subcommittee on human rights.
The reaction to the Tunis summit was brought up by President Barroso in his speech at the Barcelona summit. He expressed his deep regret at the attempts to stifle freedom of expression during the event. He stressed that ‘a society which cannot trust its own people is a weak and fragile one with little prospect of meaningful development’.
These demarches represent our first steps. We have asked for specific gestures from the Tunisian side. At the beginning of next year, we will re-evaluate the situation with Member States and decide, in the absence of progress, whether further measures should be taken. I should like firmly to reassure you that the European Commission will continue its efforts to ensure that the provisions of the association agreement and of the EU-Tunisia Action Plan with regard to respect for human rights are duly implemented.
We now have a new and more effective framework to tackle human rights questions: the neighbourhood policy. It is our firm intention, shared with the Council, to put the neighbourhood instruments at the service of improving the situation in the field of human rights.
Finally, I welcome the good dialogue that we have had with Parliament on this issue. Our efforts in promoting democracy and respect for human rights in Tunisia will be all the more effective if we are able to send consistent and coherent messages.
I must admit that I refer to those incidents with great regret, since we have to recognise that the host country made an enormous effort in organising the summit, which itself brought about a very positive outcome for the EU in the important field of the future of internet governance.
The summit outcome is a success for the EU and it bears the ‘made in Europe’ stamp. The active participation of the Commission and the continuous coordination of the position of the 25 Member States, together with the UK Presidency, since the June Telecom Council, had a positive impact on the final agreement. We managed to push through our ideas, showing that the Europe which speaks with one voice is a Europe that wins.
Ladies and gentlemen, the European Union has spoken with one and the same voice throughout the negotiations and has exerted a real influence on the debates.
As regards Internet governance, the results of the Summit bestow on the world an agreement that covers such crucial aspects as freedom of expression and of access to information, security, and the fight against spamming. As regards the key functions of the Internet, it has been decided, consistent with the proposals made by Europe, to create two fora and two processes. On the one hand, the Internet Governance Forum, already known by the acronym IGF and, on the other, the process organising enhanced cooperation between governments on the political principles related to Internet governance.
Governments have political responsibilities to fulfil. It is clear that they must not intervene either in the technical management of the Internet or in that of ICANN. The Commission is in favour of the Internet being managed by the private sector, as was demonstrated, for that matter, by the implementation of the ‘.eu’ domain.
As regards the funding for combating the digital divide, an agreement has been finalised on the funding mechanisms, and priorities have been set in terms of promoting the importance of information and communication technologies in the context of the existing funding mechanisms. In other words, information and communication technologies will be an important tool in the future for our development policy.
In the first quarter of 2006, the Commission will adopt a communication, the aim of which is to evaluate the results of the Summit and to show how the European policies will take account of them.
In March 2006, the United Nations intends to start a wide-ranging consultation with a view to the preparation of the Internet Governance Forum. We, for our part, will actively consult with industry, as we have done in the past, and I believe that the European Parliament will be in a position to take responsibility for a substantial part of the consultation of civil society."@en1
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