25/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Rachida Dati calls for action. MEP Rachida Dati (EPP, France) called on Tuesday 24 July for more action from the EU in Syria. In a written question, she asked EU High Representative Catherine Ashton what she intended to do “finally to provide political leadership and act to resolve the Syrian crisis”. Dati is critical that the EU has not been vocal on this situation, when “it has a moral obligation to act as the pages of History are being written”. Suggesting that “the EU is awaiting a solution and, in the meantime, is attending to more urgent things first”, Dati wonders “how much longer will we have to wait” for real action from the EU. “It is time to act. … This weakness on the part of Europe will not be forgotten or forgiven”, she said, spelling out: “19,000 deaths: … there is the scale of the EU's weakness”. “It is time for us to take action responsibly in line with the evidence: negotiations with the Bashar El-Assad regime will not bring anything. It is urgent that another way be found. Europe has a role to play in identifying and supporting the formation of a transition government”, she added. (CG/transl.rt)