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"Mr President, I would like to begin by joining with you in congratulating, in particular, the person who has embodied the European Parliament and the European Union as a whole in the electoral observation mission to the Palestinian elections, Mrs De Keyser, a good friend of all of us and a good friend of mine, on the great work she has done over this very difficult time, during which the mission of observers has been extremely important. I do not know whether Mrs De Keyser is in the Chamber, but, in any event, I would like to acknowledge her and express my admiration for her and once again tell her that I think of her as a friend.
Finally, just a very few days ago, also during this month, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called upon us to be ready to take a decision on the possibility of the European Union becoming involved in security and protection at the elections that are going to take place in a few months’ time in Congo.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we think for just a few moments about these last thirty days, we will see that there are immense lessons to be learnt. And many of them relate to the European Union’s influence in today’s world, because in relation to all of these issues that I have mentioned, all of them, the European Union has had to play a fundamental role: on the issue of energy security, which is fundamental and which will remain with us throughout 2006; on the issue of Iran, which will continue to occupy us over the coming days and no doubt beyond, and I will discuss this in a moment; on the Palestinian elections and their consequences; on the death of President Rugova and the consequences that it will have in 2006, and let us hope that it is only 2006; on the final agreements on the status of Kosovo; and on issues relating to the changes that have taken place in the African Union, our relations with which are marked by profound friendship, affection and cooperation.
If the President will allow me, I shall comment very briefly on these issues that I have mentioned, the most important issues to have arisen over the last month, and which are unquestionably going to make up this Parliament’s and the European Union’s fundamental agenda for 2006, but not without firstly saying once again to the Presidency of Parliament and to its Members that there is no question that the European Union is an essential player in international politics, that this must continue to be the case, that experience has shown us that, whether we like it or not, it must be the case, and that over just thirty days we have had to deal with so many issues, and at times this has stopped us being able to think; such has been the activity in which we have been immersed throughout this month.
This morning, ladies and gentlemen, this Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs received two personalities from Ukraine: the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Tarasyuk, and Yulia Timoshenko, a very distinguished parliamentarian. The Committee on Foreign Affairs has seen — I hope that many of you have been able to say this — the extremely difficult situation being faced by Ukraine, a country that is a friend of ours and that is fundamental to the stability and security of Europe. About a year ago now, all of us, the European Parliament and myself, were trying to resolve an extremely serious problem in Ukraine. Today, a year later, many of the problems that existed at that time are not as serious, but they are unfortunately still sufficiently serious for us to have to continue working, essentially in order to ensure that that country does not lose its way, that this great country continues to move along the path of economic and political development, security and increasing closeness to Europe that we all want to see. Those of you who have listened this morning to both the Foreign Affairs Minister and Mrs Yulia Timoshenko will have realised that the problem is unfortunately very serious and that we must attach particular importance to it.
In the few minutes I am allowed for this first speech, I shall not go into any more detail, but I would like to say that the elections that are going to take place in Ukraine, not in a year’s time, but in two months’ time, will be absolutely fundamental to all of us, not just for the European Union, but also for Ukraine, undoubtedly, and for all of the countries of the eastern part of our continent, which will be affected by their results.
It would be extremely sad for all of us if what a year ago we called the Orange Revolution were to stop being an orange revolution and turn into a revolution of a different kind or a step backwards after the series of steps forward that that country took a year ago.
I would like, Mr President, to move on to the second point on which I wished to comment: the situation with Iran. I believe that the honourable Members are well informed about what has happened in Iran since 3 January of this year, just a little while ago, and in particular about what has happened since the 13th, when, in Berlin, the European Union took the decision to call for an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and subsequently to call upon the Board of Governors to pass the dossier on Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Many things have happened since then, because the days pass as if they were seconds and months as if they were hours. I can tell you that, at this very moment, the Chinese and Russian representatives are in Tehran, with a mandate from the five permanent members of the Security Council plus the European Union, to try to make the final effort to reach an agreement at the meeting that is going to take place on the 2nd, that is to say tomorrow. I can tell you that, the night before last, the members of the European Union and the United States held a meeting until the early hours of the morning, which I believe was very important, with Russia and China, with a view to reaching a possible agreement on a draft resolution. And I can tell you that we reached that agreement, and that this very afternoon it will be presented in Vienna for debate tomorrow.
It is a draft resolution, ladies and gentlemen, that makes the following appeals: firstly it calls upon Iran to return to the previous situation, that is to say, not to persist in its aspirations to enrich uranium, but to return to a negotiating position; and secondly, it calls for the resolution that is going to be presented this afternoon, with the support of Russia and China, to be approved and for that resolution and all of the related resolutions adopted over recent months to be passed on to the Security Council and for that Council not to adopt any resolution until the ordinary meeting of the Board of Governors in March. Our intention here is to send a clear message to the Iranian authorities and, at the same time, to create the greatest possible degree of consensus within the international community.
The issue we are dealing with is fundamental, linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and it therefore seems to us to be essential to achieve the greatest possible agreement amongst the members of the international community and, specifically, amongst the members of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. I do not wish to say that I am optimistic, because I believe that it is difficult to be optimistic on these issues, but I believe that we have worked extremely hard over recent hours amongst all of the members of the international community, led, without any doubt whatsoever, by the positions that the European Union has held for several months and years.
We therefore hope that the debate that will begin tomorrow, and will no doubt last more than one day, will enable us to make progress in terms of rationalising Iran’s position on nuclear issues.
The third point that I wished to mention very briefly, Mr President, since time is pressing, is the Palestinian elections. I have already mentioned the good work that the European Union has done in terms of observation; I would like to make two or three observations about the results. Ladies and gentlemen, the results have surprised everybody: they have surprised Hamas, they have surprised Fatah, they have surprised Israel and they have surprised the international community.
Hamas were certainly expected to achieve better results than they have done before, but nobody ― either in Hamas, in Fatah, or in the international community ― expected Hamas to be so successful.
What positions do I believe we should take at this time? And these are not personal positions, they are positions that have been agreed by the General Affairs Council, by the Foreign Affairs Ministers on Monday morning ― that is to say, very recently ― and in the afternoon, in the Quartet, with our friends from Russia and the United States and with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Ladies and gentlemen, we believe ― quite rightly I believe ― that we must continue to help President Abu Mazen. He stood in the elections on the platform that we supported: one of progressing towards peace; recognising the need to negotiate with Israel; of ending the Intifada; and of implementing the roadmap. Those were the positions of President Abu Mazen, and they had the mass support of his Palestinian fellow citizens.
There have subsequently been elections which Hamas has won by a very substantial majority, by an absolute majority, on a platform that to a certain extent is different to that of President Abbas. There is therefore no doubt that in the future ― when the government is formed following the negotiation that will take place, very probably within several weeks, and we will therefore probably not have a government for two or three months at least ― there may well be a clash of positions amongst the different parties, between what President Abu Mazen has represented and what Hamas represents.
In Monday’s statement by the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers, which was then also recognised in the meeting of the Quartet, we said what I believe are some important things which should be known and, above all, explained. We stated clearly that, according to the report by the observers and in particular by their chief observer, the elections took place in an open, clean and fair manner. We then went on to say in this statement that Europe is entirely prepared to carry on working with our Palestinian friends, with whom we have cooperated for many years, since the Oslo process, during which we have invested European economic resources and also political and psychological resources, to a large extent, and that we are prepared to carry on doing so; and there is absolutely no doubt that we are prepared to carry on doing so in the time between now and the formation of the new government. But when the new government is formed, on the assumption that it is led by Hamas, this House will have to reflect and set certain conditions.
It would be difficult for the European Parliament and the European Union as a whole not to say various things very clearly to our Palestinian friends; specifically, three things: the first is that violence is not compatible with election results in a democracy. In a democracy, parties that have been elected must abandon violence and must play by the democratic rules.
The second thing we should say with the same affection and friendship we have always felt for our Palestinian friends is that, if they want the European Union’s assistance, it is essential that their policy is compatible with the position that this Parliament and the European Union have maintained since the Oslo agreements in 1993. We want to see two States living together in peace and prosperity; we want negotiations to take place via the peaceful route ― not by any other route ― and we would therefore call upon the two parties ― if that is what we want ― to recognise each other. This Parliament could not possibly support anything that does not involve an explicit recognition on the part of all of the Palestinian authorities, whoever they may be, that Israel is a reality with which they must hold dialogue and reach agreement.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you quite honestly that I find it very difficult to begin this sitting of 1 February 2006. If we cast our minds back just one month, to 1 January of this year, and look at what has happened in the world over the intervening thirty days, it is clear that it may be genuinely useful for us to reflect here in this Parliament; we should reflect on the European Union’s capacity for politics, the European Union’s capacity for international politics and the obligation facing all of us. If we look carefully at what has happened over these thirty days that I am about to discuss, we should draw certain conclusions with regard to how we cannot continue to act and how we should actually begin to act. So please allow me, therefore, to remind you very briefly of what has happened over the last thirty days.
Thirdly, we would like to say to our Palestinian friends ― I have said this personally on several occasions since the elections, and I am able to speak to the President practically every day ― that it would be a very good thing for the new government which emerges following these elections, in three months, also to recognise all of the agreements that the Palestinian Authority has signed over recent years. It would be absurd to go right back to zero after all the work we have done over such a long time and after the work many of you have also done over such a long time.
This is what we want to say very simply, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, and I believe that everybody must understand it; and I believe and I hope that our Palestinian friends, regardless of the party they are from, regardless of the party or formation they represented in these elections, understand that this does not mean imposing anything on anybody, or trying to force anybody’s will, but that it is a question of affirming in a clear and simple manner what the European Union’s position has been; not since yesterday, but since 1993, when the Oslo agreements were signed. And I believe that we should all be united here in this task; I believe that, as we have done in the General Affairs Council and as the Quartet did on the night following the General Affairs Council, we must stand firm in this area. This does not mean that at this difficult time, at this time when President Abu Mazen has the enormous responsibility of forming a government and of making contact with all of the different political factions, we should not help, or we should not help President Abu Mazen as much as possible at this time when he still has control of the situation, so that over these three months that he surely still has before there is a new government, the Palestinians do not face economic bankruptcy.
In my view, it would be an extremely serious mistake for us now to abandon President Abu Mazen, in an economic sense, and for those resources not to be used, or not arrive, and for us to run the risk of the Palestinian Authority finding itself in a very difficult situation at this point in time.
This is an appeal to all of us and the European Parliament ― if at some point the Commission presents a request or a recommendation to the European Parliament in this regard, and I hope that it will ― to have the generosity to support President Abu Mazen over the months remaining before a new government is in place, so that he can establish himself and find a place for himself and what he signifies. I believe that we should say ‘yes’, a resounding ‘yes’, so that that is what happens in the future.
I would like to say that what we have before us is going to be a new situation, it is going to be difficult, it is not going to be easy, but I believe that we must remain determined to ensure that this peace process moves forward under the conditions to which I referred before. They are not absurd conditions, as I have said; they are not conditions that have just been plucked from the air, but they come from many years of work, of working together, of work with our Palestinian friends to ensure that the process can move forward.
Mr President, I will now say a couple of very brief words about the situation in Kosovo, following the death of President Rugova. It was my sad duty – though I was delighted to go – to attend the funeral of President Rugova. The family asked me to speak on that occasion on behalf of the European Union, and I did so. I did so thinking of all of you, I did so thinking of all of the citizens of Europe, whose thoughts I am sure were with President Rugova at that time. But let there be no mistake; it is going to be a difficult process. Because if the process was difficult enough when President Rugova was alive and acting as a sort of 'umbrella’ for the whole political operation that we are facing, imagine what it is going to be like without him. In my speech, I called upon the Kosovan political leaders and people in general to show generosity, unity and responsibility at this time so that progress can be made, and I believe that to a certain extent those words, spoken by myself and by others, have been heard: we now have somebody to replace President Rugova, something that I feared was going to take much longer, and who is also going to head the team which, under the direction of Mr Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, will jointly lead the negotiation with our Serbian friends.
Let us hope therefore that we can move in that direction and that we can move relatively quickly, but I would emphasise once again that great energies are going to be required in order to progress along this path towards a definitive solution to the situation in Kosovo, which would unquestionably represent an essential step towards stability throughout the Balkan region, stability for the countries to which we have offered a future in Europe, at the Thessaloniki Summit and on numerous occasions.
Mr President, I believe that my time is running out, and it would be a great shame not to discuss some of the other issues that I wished to raise with you, given the enormous amount of activity that has taken place over the last twenty days. I would like to tell you that we are continuing to work very hard with the African Union to try to resolve the problem of peace in Darfur. We have made a lot of progress on the North-South negotiation, and we have reached an agreement, but we unfortunately have the Abuja process, which has not made any progress. We are working as hard as we possibly can in that regard. Fortunately, the meeting of the African Union has found a compromise formula whereby, rather than making the President of Sudan the President of the African Union, which would have been a great problem for the future negotiations, it has chosen President Brazzaville of Congo. We will therefore be very happy to do everything we can to ensure that the Abuja process moves forward and at the same time will begin to plan ― because we are going to have to take on many responsibilities ― the transition from a force that is present on the ground, led by the African Union, to a force which, sooner or later, but within a few months, will be United Nations blue helmets and with which we will undoubtedly have to continue cooperating.
The last thing I would like to say, Mr President, is that, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, we have received a request ― or at least the Presidency and myself have received a request ― from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, asking us whether we could assist in the elections that are going to be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo and which will provide the final impetus for the process of democratic transition in Congo; if it goes well, it will bring stability to a significant part of Africa’s backbone; this issue is therefore fundamental for all of us. We are being asked to help, and today there is a fact-finding mission in Kinshasa, and I hope that in a few days time, on the 7th, it will be able to give us its results, so that we can see whether, in the end, the Member States of the European Union can take the decision to support the United Nations in response to this offer, or request. To do so would be a good decision.
Many of us stayed awake the whole of the night of 1 January 2006, trying to resolve an extremely serious problem that was affecting us: Ukraine and Russia had a problem that was very difficult to resolve because of the lack of an energy agreement between the two countries. If, rather than an energy agreement, disagreement had remained, that would have had extremely serious repercussions for the energy supply of many European Union countries. That was the first night of the year.
I shall end here, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. There are endless things I would like to share with you on this first day of February 2006, a year which has begun with some truly frenetic activity, which is going to make us all frenetic and which must make us work with an energy, a capacity and a dedication that we have rarely seen in the European Union.
Through the will of the Members of this Parliament, through the will of the citizens of Europe and through the will of the governments of Europe, the European Union must be a fundamental player on the international scene. And as you have just heard, ladies and gentlemen, given the things that have happened during this last month alone, we have no choice but to play that role, whether we like it or not: we cannot close our eyes to the world’s problems, and I would like to say to you that the world wants Europe to act. Wherever we go, we come across people, political leaders, knocking on Europe’s door and saying, ‘Act. Act; we like the way you act; your way of acting suits us; the way you act is better for the world, the multilateral world in which the citizens of the European Union believe’.
The Eurobarometer, Mr President, tells us every day, every month, or every two months, or every time we ask it, what the Members of this Parliament want. Let us therefore continue along that path, let us ensure that Parliament and all of the institutions can work together, because we are necessary if we are to create a better world.
Mr President, I would like to say much more, but I know that that is not possible. So I will stop and I will await any question the honourable Members wish to ask me; I shall do my best to answer as best I can, with the same respect and affection that I have always shown to this Parliament. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
On the third night of 2006, the Iranian Government took an extremely important decision: to commence enriching uranium. And less than a week later, it began to break the seals that had been affixed by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and of the Board Governors of that Agency.
A few days later, Prime Minister Sharon was taken into a hospital in Jerusalem, and unfortunately he has yet to recover fully. If you will allow me, I would like to say to the family of Prime Minister Sharon, on behalf of all of us, that we wish him a speedy recovery. Regardless of the differences that may have arisen between us in the past, regardless of the difficulties and misunderstandings that we may have had, men who have fought, people who have worked with us, must be acknowledged in their times of difficulty.
A few days later, serious problems arose with the beginning of the elections in Palestine, and once again Mrs De Keyser was there to try to solve them. The Palestinian elections took place at the end of the month, and the result caused a commotion.
Some days later, within the context of another issue which is absolutely fundamental to the European Union, President Rugova, President of Kosovo, died suddenly.
Also in the final days of the month, there was a crucial meeting of the African Union, with which we are cooperating extremely closely in an attempt to resolve a serious problem: the problem of Darfur."@en1
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