Budapest, 18/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - In the view of the European and ACP elected representatives meeting for their Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), there is no doubt that the democratic uprisings in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East merit the admiration and full support of the EU and the ACP countries, as they reflect the "general discontent of the population towards the regimes in place and their aspiration to an alliance between economic growth, a respect for democratic values and social welfare". In a resolution adopted in Budapest on Wednesday 18 May on the consequences of these countries for the ACP countries, Europe and the world, the JPA "applauds the courage and determination of the people" - that of the young people and women in particular - but speaks out against the complacency which has benefited authoritarian regimes, both from a number of countries of the EU and certain African countries, before the popular uprisings. The parliamentarians also spoke out against a policy of double standards in the treatment meted out to dictators in a situation of civil war against their own people. They lament the "selective indignation of the international community" when it comes to violence in Yemen, Syria and, in particular, Bahrain, where troops of the coalition of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) travelled from Saudi Arabia to repress protests. The MPs call on these authorities to exercise restraint and guarantee protesters full respect of their rights and security. They also call for an independent investigation into the violence and for all political prisoners, human rights defenders and journalists to be released.
The members of the Assembly denounce the "friendly relations maintained for years by certain ACP and EU countries with dictators, arms agreements and acts of largesse in favour of strategic economic interests". The resolution therefore calls on the EU to assess and reform in-depth its "diplomatic policy" and the "nature of its political, trade and cooperative relations with the countries of North Africa and the Middle East", to pay more attention to cooperation with civil society and to envisage a temporary suspension of repayments of the debts of the countries in question. The JPA also calls for the assets of corrupt leaders to be frozen and returned to the coffers of the countries in question. It stresses the need for resolution 1973 (2011) of the UN Security Council to be respected to the letter and reiterates that armed intervention "may under no circumstances arrogate the right to stipulate who may govern and who must be excluded". The AU is called upon to get involved in finding solutions which are acceptable to all parties, and the JPA calls on the UN, the AU and the Arab League and the coalition to hold a round table to find a way out of crisis and into sustainable peace and democracy in Libya.
During the debate, many of those who attended expressed their hopes of seeing the fight for democracy catch on, particularly in Africa. Olle Schmidt (ADLE, Sweden) said that Europe has a lot to learn from the Arab Spring, because "for too long, it has concentrated on stability rather than on democracy" in these countries. Concerned by the attitude of France and Italy towards the 30,000 migrants from Libya and Tunisia (as against 125,000 refugees from Côte d'Ivoire in Liberia, commented François Alfonsi, Greens/EFA, France), he warned against the "use of the false pretext of mass immigration" to close the borders. The representative of DRC said that the main lesson to learn is that "sooner or later, a dictatorship will fall" and that it is therefore necessary to "promote democracy, which is universal, throughout the world". Françoise Castex (S&D, France) stated that a revolutionary process is always long and chaotic and with an uncertain outcome. "Time is a key factor", she stressed, lambasting the "current dictatorship of emergency and hasty conclusions" announcing the breakdown of democracy in the Arab countries, or the necessary victory of fundamentalism. She argued that "what is happening outside these countries - in the EU, the AEU and the Arab League - is just as decisive, and the mistake to avoid is fear and closing of borders". "Whatever the future of these nations, they deserve more than they have", said James Nicholson (ECR, United Kingdom). He lamented the fact that we have "stood and done nothing about the situation in Zimbabwe". Mr Assarid, an MP from Mali, called on his audience to keep "watch" on Tunisia and Egypt, because he is "firmly convinced that we will see democracies run by radical Islamists". He also pleaded for the "international community to take advantage" of the Arab Spring to "resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by force and demand that UN resolutions are complied with". Louis Michel (ADLE, Belgium), co-president of the JPA, who paid tribute to "this democratic impetus carried by youth rather than fundamentalism of any kind", told the press: "if we want to help, the international community must use this head of steam to try to resolve the problem of the Middle East. Until this conflict is resolved, that will muddy the water between East and West". (A.N./transl.fl)