Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-04-Speech-4-085"
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"en.20081204.4.4-085"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour and pleasure to welcome His Holiness the 14
Dalai Lama in the plenary of the European Parliament today. We eagerly await your thoughts on the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and the significance of this dialogue for peace and international understanding which you will share with us today in the plenary of the European Parliament.
As you, Your Holiness, said a few years ago, each of us must learn not only to work for oneself, one’s own family or one’s own nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.
You are, Your Holiness, an important advocate of dialogue. Your non-violent stance provides an excellent example of involved, peaceful commitment to a worthy cause, and we are honoured that you are speaking to the European Parliament today.
It is with great pleasure that I now invite you to speak to us.
During 2008 we already had the honour of greeting representatives of the Christian religion, the Jewish religion and of Islam here, and today we have the opportunity to hear a leading representative of Buddhism. Your Holiness, at this time our thoughts go above all to the victims of the bloody attacks in Mumbai and to the people in India, the country in which you live in exile. At precisely a time of such great challenges, religious leaders like you who advocate dialogue, peace and reconciliation have an essential contribution to make to our social life.
The European Parliament has always endeavoured to raise its voice for the rights and dignity of man. The culture and freedom of religious expression touch directly on people's identity and are therefore inseparably linked with human dignity. In this connection, the European Parliament has constantly endeavoured to draw attention to the human rights of the Tibetan people.
When you, Your Holiness, gave a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 1988, you spoke of a five-point peace plan for Tibet. You also visited us in 2001 and 2006. During this period, the European Parliament took a number of resolutions in which it asked the Chinese Government to start an immediate and meaningful dialogue and to respect the cultural and religious identity and the human rights of the Tibetan people. On behalf of the European Parliament I should like to stress again: the European Parliament recognises the territorial unity of China, to which Tibet belongs. However, we will always defend the right of the Tibetan people to live their cultural and religious identity. We will always defend this right.
What has been going on in Lhasa and other towns since 10 March is proof of the urgent need for a proper dialogue, with which an acceptable, sustainable solution for all sides will be worked towards with respect for the culture, religion and identity of Tibet.
For these reasons we are deeply concerned that the talks started in 2002 between your special envoys and the Chinese state institutions have achieved no results yet. We express our urgent expectation that future talks will bring the desired results.
China is a significant nation and an important partner of the European Union. In our dialogue with China we are under an obligation to openly and sincerely espouse our common values of democracy, law, human rights and freedom of opinion, based on the fundamental principle of human dignity.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we were to stop espousing these principles, we would give up ourselves. I also stated these principles yesterday in a conversation with the Chinese Representative to the European Union."@en1
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