Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-30-Speech-3-029"
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"en.20080130.14.3-029"2
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"Mr President, in the current climate I think it is inevitable that discussions about Iran focus on the nuclear programme. The international community is united in the search for a satisfactory solution. That means working through the appropriate channels with the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council. It also means supporting the persistent efforts by High Representative Javier Solana on behalf of the three plus three, with the full backing of the European Union, because international unity remains central, and it was shown at the last meeting in Berlin.
Beyond that, we are pursuing our cooperation with Iran in a series of sectors such as the support to Afghan refugees or the fight against narcotics. In this respect I would like to draw your attention to a recently launched call for proposals for grants to non-state actors and local authorities in Iran.
The programme – by the way a first with Iran – aims at promoting and strengthening an inclusive and empowered society. It includes educational activities and development activities with a focus on actions against poverty.
Finally, the programme supports cooperation between civil society and local authorities and activities to strengthen their capacity. This call is now open and runs until 11 February.
On another note, I welcome the decision taken by Parliament in plenary on 13 December last year to allocate a EUR 3 million envelope for a television news service in Farsi. Promoting the production and broadcasting of information with a strong European angle can play an important role in fostering better mutual understanding with the Iranian public.
I wish to conclude on an important note: the issue of democracy and human rights. In front of this Parliament last week, Dr Jalili insisted on the importance of human dignity. I, of course, can only concur with him, but unfortunately when I met him myself, I could only tell him about my deep concern about the deterioration of human rights and the human rights situation in Iran.
Last year Iran carried out at least 297 executions, according to an AFP account compiled from press reports. The total was a sharp increase from 2006 when 177 executions were carried out, according to Amnesty International. I do not speak of other very cruel methods of killing people. So I had to express my hope that the EU-Iran dialogue on human rights could resume.
I also expressed the hope that there would be a wider spectrum of candidates than in the past for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The European Union remains strongly mobilised on this front. The latest statement on the death sentences in Iran issued on 25 January is just another case in point.
We are fully in line with Parliament in saying that, without a systematic improvement of the human rights situation in Iran, our relations with Iran cannot develop properly.
When I received Dr Saeed Jalili, the Iranian chief negotiator, last week, I reminded him of our principled position. Nobody has ever denied Iran’s right to the use of peaceful nuclear energy, but there was a serious need to rebuild trust and show genuine political will to find a solution.
Unfortunately, whereas the European Union was making its best efforts, I could not see such political will yet on the Iranian side. Until we see such political will, there will unfortunately be no possibility of our enhancing our relationship, including launching or relaunching the trade and cooperation agreement talks and talks on energy. This is what I explicitly told Dr Jalili at our meeting.
I am confident that Parliament shares the same views and that it continues to firmly back High Representative Solana and the three plus three to achieve a sustainable solution – and a diplomatic solution which, whilst preserving Iran’s inalienable right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, also provides objective guarantees on these activities being exclusively peaceful in nature.
Although the development of the EU’s relationship with Iran is conditioned to a large degree by progress on that issue, in the Commission’s view more than one track should be pursued with Iran.
In this respect, I wish to express my appreciation for the work undertaken by the Delegation for Relations with Iran under the dynamic chairwomanship of Ms Angelika Beer. Ms Beer, I particularly wish to commend the mission which you led last month to Tehran. EP contacts, for instance with the Iranian Majlis, are an important channel of communication between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Your meetings with high-level officials such as the Foreign Minister, Mr Mottaki, as well as with a wide spectrum of Iranian society, are and were very precious. Meetings with women activists, families of imprisoned students, trade unionists and minority groups constitute an important testimony to the importance the European Union attaches to a fully free, democratic and pluralistic Iran in accordance with the international conventions to which the Islamic Republic of Iran has freely adhered.
People-to-people contacts constitute an excellent means to overcome prejudice and negative stereotypes and to foster mutual understanding. It is, for instance, very important to support the further development of academic, cultural and artistic exchanges between Europe and Iran: two ancient beacons of civilisation which have a lot to offer each other.
This is why I am particularly glad to report the successful launch this academic year of an Erasmus Mundus external cooperation window, linking up Europeans with students and professors from Iraq, Yemen and Iran. From Teheran to Shiraz, to Mashhad to Alzahra, the web of Iranian universities participating in this consortium looks particularly promising. The first academic batch has already allowed over 50 Iranian students and professors to study in Europe. I strongly hope that this set-up will work both ways and European students and professors will also go to Iran."@en1
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