Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-287"
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"en.20071211.37.2-287"2
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"Mr President, it is good that the EU-Africa Summit has taken place. We see more clearly now. We have a strategy and a first action plan. We in the European Parliament shall monitor their implementation closely. As chairman of the delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament, I can tell you that we shall be doing that together with our African counterparts.
In the realm of good governance, we issued a joint statement at our parliamentary pre-summit meeting which included an expression of our conviction that measures to strengthen the capacity of African parliaments would enable those institutions, which had previously been overlooked, to make an effective contribution to good governance and to scrutiny of policy implementation. To this end we need adequate resources to be earmarked in the specific programmes of the Commission and the Member States.
On human rights, we see Africans closing ranks whenever warranted criticism of conditions in specific countries is voiced in Europe. Sporadic remarks from delegates dissociating themselves from Robert Mugabe’s policies before the summit gave way to a united front at the summit itself. My thanks go to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, for expressing herself clearly on Zimbabwe on behalf of all of us.
On the subject of economic partnership agreements, however, I believe we have a real problem. It cannot be the aim of the EU to bring about the effective disintegration of the Southern African Development Community or the Southern African Customs Union by concluding interim agreements with some countries and not with others. On this subject, President Mbeki argues objectively, whereas on the subject of Zimbabwe he tends to adopt a more partisan stance. With regard to economic partnership agreements, I call on the Council to give the Commission a more flexible negotiating mandate so that unwanted effects like the interruption of trade flows for non-least-developed countries (non-LDCs) do not occur on 1 January simply because of the expiry of the present trade arrangements.
Yes, WTO-compatibility is essential, but it must also be possible to exercise a certain degree of creativity in order to achieve it. Sometimes the stopwatch can be put on hold for a limited time. All of our countries, after all, are WTO members too."@en1
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