Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-04-16-Speech-3-110-951"
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"en.20140416.132.3-110-951"2
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"Mr President, it is apt as this five-year session of the European Parliament nears its close that we devote ourselves to a debate on reconciling proper respect for cultural diversity without compromising steadfast compliance with fundamental rights. This remains a challenge in Europe as across the world. I hope some of the past left-right differences in this House will be overcome in the vote and I welcome a text which calls for respect for all religions and beliefs in paragraph[nbsp ]16.
I recall the European Conservatives voting against this Parliament’s Annual Human Rights Report on the basis that they put equal emphasis on economic, social and cultural rights as on civil and political rights. I hope tomorrow’s vote will demonstrate otherwise. It is not long since the leaders of both Germany and the United Kingdom criticised the concept of multiculturalism – a concept which Europe needs to cherish, not undermine.
I am also very concerned that once again the ECR Group, led by the British Conservatives, has called for a separate vote on paragraph[nbsp ]7 on the death penalty, where their failure to support brings deep shame to the worldwide campaign for its abolition – and, I have to say, to the reputation of my own country.
I am pleased to see paragraph[nbsp ]30 contains an unswerving commitment to the inclusion of human rights clauses in the EU trade agreements. But I know that this is challenged from some quarters in this Parliament and that invoking these clauses in the vast majority of cases where human rights concerns arise has proven to be almost impossible. And Europeʼs ability to combat religious persecution abroad must be strengthened if we honestly confront religious discrimination here in our own countries.
I add my thanks to the many others who have congratulated MEPs who are making their final speeches before retiring from this Parliament, including Ms Giannakou. I hope to return, but place on record the pride I feel having served as human rights spokesperson for my group for the past five years, and my thanks to the human rights organisations and defenders with whom it is a privilege to work.
The late Robin Cook, a former Foreign Secretary for my party in Britain, famously introduced what he called an ethical foreign policy and was widely criticised for choosing this aim. For me, in seeking to work for a better world, morality is something which guides me. Not a morality based on one religion or ideology but a recognition that human rights involve a very clear distinction between what is right and what is wrong."@en1
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