Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-17-Speech-3-087"
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"en.20070117.7.3-087"2
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".
Madam President, whom I congratulate on her brilliant election, honourable Members, following on from what we were just told by the Council representative, Mr Gloser, I am going to try to inform Parliament of the latest developments in the problem posed by the death sentence handed down to the Bulgarian and Palestinian medical personnel in Libya, on 19 December. I will provide you with some background information from the Commission.
As you just pointed out, Mr Gloser, the Libyan Supreme Court quashed the first death sentence on 25 December 2005 and ordered a retrial. This retrial ended on 19 December 2006 with confirmation that the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor had been sentenced to death. According to the Libyan authorities, the case will be referred again to the Supreme Court in the next few weeks. Therefore, the judicial procedure has not concluded and is continuing. However, on 30 December, the Libyan President issued some public statements reviving the theory of an international plot against Libya, which has caused widespread concern.
At the same time as the judicial procedure is taking place, political consultations are under way to try to resolve this problem on the basis of humanitarian principles, with account being taken of the suffering of the child victims of the infection and of that of the medical personnel. What is the desired outcome? On the one hand, to guarantee the children and their families appropriate medical treatment and financial support and, on the other hand, to secure the release of the medical personnel.
In this context, an international fund for Benghazi has been set up. This fund receives contributions in the form of money or benefits, services or equipment, from public and private donors. It will enable three actions to be carried out: medical care for treating AIDS in Libya to be improved, sick children to be treated abroad and each family to be given financial support. I must also stress that the children’s treatment has already been guaranteed thanks, on the one hand, to the solidarity of several Member States and of the European Commission and, on the other hand, to the funds made available to the families by the Libyan Government.
The Commission clearly regards this as a high priority matter. It is devoting all the resources, all the efforts necessary to find a solution. We have made sure that we have provided technical and medical assistance to Benghazi hospital, where the infection broke out among the children. This work began in September 2005 and is continuing. It has meant that the quality of treatment and the practices carried out inside the hospital have been improved.
At the same time, the Commission is playing an active part in the political consultations already mentioned. We were obviously very disappointed that the death sentence was decided for a second time. True, this is the responsibility of the Libyan judicial authorities but, at the same time, we have begun a dialogue between the parties concerned and we believe that the strategy for getting out of this crisis must be defined in the context of this dialogue. The Commission remains fully involved in this process.
To conclude, and to echo Mr Groner, speaking on behalf of the German Presidency, the dialogue is still under way. It is true, however, that this is a very sensitive matter, which requires the European Union to act with discretion, but not, for all that, to be soft on the need to secure the release of the Bulgarian and Palestinian medical personnel. Furthermore, we feel that it is necessary for the European institutions clearly to show solidarity with the medical personnel, while being very careful not to compromise the development of the work begun and not to affect the climate of discussions with Libya by carrying out impromptu actions.
Following on from the German Presidency, I can simply confirm, honourable Members, that the Commission is very motivated when it comes to continuing the efforts to find a solution to this problem which, it really must be said, has a particularly tragic dimension for the parties concerned and for our Bulgarian friends."@en1
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