Strasbourg, 22/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - In its emergency debate last week, the EP adopted a joint resolution by four groups (EPP, PES, ELDR, GUE/NGL) expressing support for the democratic forces of Paraguay that managed to quash General Lino Oviedo's attempted coup d'état. It congratulates the Brazilian government for arresting the General and hopes that he will be rapidly repatriated to face court action in Paraguay. The Parliament also called for neighbouring countries to take action to call a halt to the "destabilising manoeuvres" which are being organised from outside the country.
During the brief debate, Mr Salafranca-Sanchez Neyra (Partido Popular, Spain) requested in particular that the European Union make its support for Paraguay concrete by opening an Office in the country. Commissioner Mr Verheugen responded by noting that the European Commission was in the process of studying the "reorganisation" of its external offices and potential new "priorities", but stated that it was not yet possible to predict the outcome of this study. The socialist MEP Mr Martinez Martinez slammed the behaviour of General Oviedo for being a "professional destabiliser", recalling Paraguay's troubled past and the fact that the country had, as he put it, suffered the sad fate of seeing its population "practically exterminated" following the war between Argentina and Brazil.