Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-14-Speech-2-017"
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"en.20060214.4.2-017"2
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".
Mr President, this clause was drafted ten years ago and applied in certain agreements. This report wants new criteria which must apply between EU Member States and third countries. Suspension of agreements with those countries would follow if the clause was contravened.
This report criticises the fact that the clause does not exist in three big areas, namely agriculture, fisheries and textiles. Of course democracy and human rights should be encouraged in all the states of the world which are unfortunate enough not to enjoy them already. All decent democratic states should use their relations with other countries – diplomatic and trading, cultural, etc. – to encourage the growth of democracy and human rights, something that my country, Britain, has done for many years.
However, this report says that the clause must apply in all countries equally. Has this been properly thought out? If so, it will apply to China and other developing economies in the Far East and other parts of the world. Many jobs depend on trading relations with China and the number will increase in the future. Are we really saying that we are going to turn the tide of history by telling China to turn into a democratic country with full human rights overnight, just on the basis of one report from the European Parliament? I think not.
Today the United Nations has called for Guantanámo Bay to be closed and there are many human rights questions hanging over what the Americans are doing in Guantanámo Bay. If this agreement is to apply equally to all countries, are we going to suspend relations with the US if we think that it is contravening human rights in Guantanámo Bay?
I was also struck by the arrogance of the Commissioner in demanding that other countries, such as China and Japan, abolish the death penalty if they want to have relations with the EU. I think that is an unbelievable intrusion into the democratic and sovereign right of other countries to have a penal system that suits them and their citizens rather than the European Union. The European Union itself is undermining democracy in all its Member States. I know at first hand how democracy in Britain has been undermined by our relationship with the European Union and our increasing political integration into a United States of Europe. So I think perhaps the European Union should put its own House in order first, as far as democracy is concerned. Perhaps it could make a start by paying attention to the results in the Dutch and French referendums on the Constitution.
I suggest that this report is not properly thought out. Yes, we want democracy and human rights in all the countries of the world. But let us try to do it by setting an example in friendship, rather than setting criteria and conditions that will not be met."@en1
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