Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-284"
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"en.20051213.57.2-284"2
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"Mr President, we shall be voting against this so-called compromise resolution, which I am rather inclined to call the ‘Flautre resolution’ since it seems to be so closely aligned with the text presented by the honourable Member.
The manifest aim of the resolution is to make an issue of minor incidents, and I do mean minor incidents, that occurred during the World Summit on the Information Society, a summit which took place in what we – and we are not alone in this – considered to be entirely satisfactory conditions.
Why should Tunisia be hounded like this when so many states around the world with which the European Union has better relations and which, in some cases, it is preparing to welcome into the fold, display far less respect for fundamental freedoms than the Tunisian Government? Why Tunisia? The answer is simple. It is because Tunisia is succeeding only too well and, in the eyes of certain powers – and, alas, of some simple souls they manipulate – Tunisia poses a risk on three counts.
First of all, Tunisia is a model of development, and one wonders whether certain superpowers are not out to destroy any Arab country that is on the way to development.
Secondly, Tunisia is a model of Mediterranean cooperation. It is no coincidence that it was the first country in that part of the world to sign an association agreement with the Union, and there are some who, in the name of the well-known theory of the clash of civilisations, might have an interest in setting one side of the Mediterranean against the other, given that unity in the Mediterranean region would allow the wider Euro-African area to prosper.
Lastly, Tunisia is a model of cooperation in the French-speaking world. French is the language of its development, but, as we saw at a meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Rabat only a few days ago, some would prefer French to give way to English as the one and only international language.
By rallying round the systematic detractors of Tunisia, such as Mrs Flautre, and by attacking a country which, I repeat, has been exemplary, this House will convey the impression that it seeks, under cover of cooperation and respect for human rights, to harden positions on both sides, which will ultimately foster Islamic fundamentalism. This is what is currently happening in Iraq through the agency of the West – or, to be more precise, Washington and its accomplices – and it is a process which first Egypt then the Maghreb countries might experience too. Our involvement in that would not serve the interests of the European powers; on the contrary, it would expose our peoples to the effects of terrible divisions in our common maritime region."@en1
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