Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-01-Speech-3-031"
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"en.20060201.11.3-031"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Solana, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, Mr Winkler, I should like to seize the opportunity, rare as it is, of Mr Solana’s being present in this Chamber to touch on one or two aspects of the common foreign and security policy that are particularly problematic for my group. I will base my remarks in particular on the Operational Programme of the Council for 2006, since that is the most recent background paper. What can be observed?
As for the election result, let us be careful not to analyse it purely from an internal Palestinian perspective. Certainly, the popular rejection of Fatah is genuine. Any hegemonic power tends to become divorced from society. Yet, how can one fail to see that the Palestinian Authority has above all lost its credibility with the citizens because it has not succeeded in improving their lot or in offering them new prospects due to the blocked peace process? After the high hopes of ten years ago, the feeling is now one of extreme exasperation in the face of the continuing occupation, the development of settlements, the construction of the wall, the ‘targeted’ assassinations, the arrests, the detention of prisoners, the daily violence and the worsening living conditions as a result of the territories being sealed off. As for the Palestinian State and as for Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority is seen as having accepted a great deal and as having obtained very little.
What should be done, then? There is no doubt that, as you said, Mr Solana, we should put pressure on Hamas to stop the violence and assassination attempts. What are you saying to the Israeli authorities, though? I have heard nothing on this matter. We also need clearly to show that, as far as we are concerned, there is no ‘variable geometry’ version of international law. Like any State, Israel has a duty to comply with the Security Council resolutions. It also has to follow the recommendations of the International Court of Justice. It has to implement its obligations under the road map.
In that context, Mr President, it stands to reason that, now more than ever, the attitude to be adopted with regard to our diplomats’ report on Jerusalem is this: we must publish it straightaway, implement its recommendations and, more generally, finally choose a real alternative to President Bush’s strategy, which has failed in the Near East and, beyond, in the Middle East. Let us be alert to the cries of alarm rising up from societies on the verge of despair.
Firstly, the disproportionate importance accorded to the military dimension of the CFSP. It is with outright greed that the Programme lists one by one the catalogues of forces, the rapid response operations, the battle groups, the European Defence Agency and the strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO. The 25 thus have the impression that they are playing with the big boys, but their self-importance is illusory and misplaced.
On the other hand – and this is my second observation – the large open wounds in some of the most sensitive regions in the world, wounds that specifically require some political creativity from Europe in the face of the irresponsible approach of the US leaders and their allies are, for their part, sidelined in the CFSP agenda. Thus, in the Operational Programme for 2006, it is the case that, in 14 pages of text, the Near East is disposed of in less than two and a half lines used to reveal to us, and I quote, that: ‘The European Union will continue its efforts to implement the road map’. There is not a single word on the Israeli leaders’ choice of a unilateral strategy, which clearly runs counter to the spirit of the road map and to any peace process. Iraq, for its part, warrants three lines, but there is no mention whatsoever of the war nor of the catastrophic Bush strategy, which lands us all into a tragic deadlock.
This brings me to our main criticism, which I already had the opportunity to voice in this very Chamber in June 2003 at the time of the publication of your report on the European security strategy – which is still in force, Mr Solana. The report gives an apocalyptic description of the new threats without once analysing their root causes, and it is with sheer disbelief that one reads - I quote - that ‘by working together, the European Union and the United States can be a major force for good in the world’.
So what is your assessment, Mr Solana, of two years of implementation of this strategy? Has the world become a safer and fairer place? To my mind, a good yardstick against which to judge this is the case of the Near East, to which I am now going to turn my attention.
While we are on this subject, allow me to point out to our fellow Members the presence, in our galleries, of Mrs Leïla Shahid, Palestine’s new delegate-general to the European Union, whom I should like warmly to welcome.
Even before the Palestinian elections, I had called for Parliament’s agenda to include the issue of the European diplomats’ harsh but accurate report on Jerusalem, which the Council kept secret so as not to affect its relations with the Israeli authorities.
Where are we with this matter today? Like a number of my fellow Members, I have just returned from Palestine, where we were observing the legislative elections. We were all pleased and moved to observe the exemplary way in which the ballot was held there, the festive atmosphere in the streets, despite the occupation, and the way in which we, as foreigners, were welcomed. This pride in being able to show the world the Palestinian people’s ability to build its democracy is a major asset for the future that the election result must not have us forget. The same is true of the Palestinians’ desire to make peace with neighbouring Israel and to have two peoples and two States, which were subjects that featured in all of the conversations we were able to have. Anyone who took the risk of starving these women, men and children, or indeed of radicalising them, by cutting off their vital aid, would therefore be shouldering a heavy responsibility. Instead, let us count on the aspirations for democracy and for a just peace, which very much have the upper hand in today’s Palestinian society and which any Palestinian authority will have to take into account. It is the very future of the partnership between the two regions that is at stake."@en1
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