Brussels, 18/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - “It was high time for the Security Council to decide. I am glad and relieved that the international community has finally taken concrete action to stop Gaddafi killing his own people. There is no more time to waste to implement the no-fly zone”, said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek on Friday 18 March.
The resolution adopted by the UN Security Council comes “at a very late hour” but the EPP Group believes it will be “effective in achieving its primary goal, which is to prevent further acts of violence in Libya”, said Joseph Daul and Ioannis Kasoulides, President and Vice-President of the EPP. They urge member states “who have the capacity and will, through collaboration with other international actors, to act quickly and effectively and take all necessary measures, short of occupation, to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack”.
Martin Schulz, who heads the S&D Group, also welcomed the UN decision. The “two key preconditions” for action in Libya have been met, he said (international legitimacy and participation by the Arab League). The UN Security Council resolution on Libya, he said, “gives the opportunity for legal international action in order to save Libyan people from Gaddafi's brutality”.
The resolution adopted by the UN Security Council is a powerful sign that will promote the democratic reform process in North Africa, said the Greens/EFA Group at the EP, which added that it is now, however, necessary to ensure that everything is done to prevent a “blood bath”. Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms consider the resolution changes the balance of force and signals the end of the Gadhafi regime. They state they are surprised at the attitude taken by Germany which, like Russia and China, abstained at the time of the vote on the resolution of the UN Security Council, adding that they once more regret that there was no common EU position on such a crucial issue in the field of foreign policy.
Guy Verhofstadt, the president of the ALDE Group, also deplored the fact that Germany had abstained in the vote on the UNSC resolution, saying “this weakened the European Union's position”. He went on to point out that on Monday, however, “there is a new opportunity for the Foreign Affairs Council to show our unanimous backing for the resolution”.
“David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have shown significant international leadership”, said Charles Tannock of the ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) Group. He went on to bemoan Germany's abstention which “undermines the EU's defence of human rights and democracy in our southern neighbourhood”. “This”, he added, “is a victory of global leadership for some European countries but a categorical failure of EU foreign policy”. (L.C./transl.jl)