Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-15-Speech-3-428-000"
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"en.20120215.22.3-428-000"2
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"Madam President, this is the fourth Parliamentary resolution on Syria and I would say that the added value of this resolution which, of course, hardens the tone and supports the diplomatic efforts, one of the added values is just to say to the people of Syria, ‘No, even if nothing is happening, you are not forgotten. Even if the same thing is repeated all of the time, you are not forgotten!’ That, in itself, is of some worth.
The second thing I should like to say to you is that this resolution, as with the speeches that I have heard, does not address the essential questions: in other words, what are we doing; what strategy is being followed? Not a military strategy, I agree. I believe that would be the worst thing to have.
This morning, however, a member of the Syrian National Council, who had tears in his eyes as he showed me the videos of his country where dreadful torture is taking place, asked me: are you going to give us arms? Are you going to give us money? We are not asking you to intervene on our behalf, but are you going to help us? We want to fight our own fight. Are you capable of that?
I said that it is not even in the resolution, because I have been told that the Syrian opposition is not united enough, that we do not have the correct channels, and so on. However, if we fail to answer this key question, what credibility are we going to have? I am therefore asking you to draw up these answers. I am not asking to have them here, and I am not asking you, or you, to have them, but I would say to you that this is what is expected. The country is awaiting practical things from us too.
The third thing I wish to say concerns Bashar al-Assad. Although there are perhaps only a few of us, some of us have long felt that it would be possible to change the Syrian regime. We have met the Syrian President, some of us at length and sometimes in person, for an hour or an hour and a half; I recall having been in Bashar al-Assad’s apartment, where he told me how his country had to change: the state of emergency, multi-party politics and so on. We were duped. Today, when I hear promises of a new constitution, I say to myself that we believed all of those promises.
I am not asking for Bashar al-Assad’s head on a pike. I still feel ill for having seen Saddam Hussein hanged and for having seen the battered head of Gaddafi. I do say, however, that he will be held to account for his acts. We shall not let this pass. The International Criminal Court exists to try crimes against humanity. With that, I say to the Syrian people: ‘Wait, we are going to do something’. I am really asking here for the Council and the Commission to work on practical measures, and I would ask Parliament to support this position."@en1
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