Brussels, 19/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana reaffirmed that the EU's "absolute" solidarity with the United States following the attack on 11 September should not be viewed as a war against Islam: he did so, amid thunderous applause, when meeting MEPs Wednesday morning (see above), just before setting off for the United States with the European Troika (see other article). When preparing this Troika visit, "I was in almost constant contact with Colin Powell," the High Representative for CFSP told MEPs, adding: since this crisis, I have also spoken to the countries of the Barcelona Process on a daily basis (the countries of the Southern Mediterranean, united with Europe through this process in which Javier Solana, the then Spanish Foreign minister had played a part: Ed.). We must take advantage of these difficult circumstances to rekindle the Barcelona Process and thereby also deepen the "inter-cultural" field, he insisted. …/..
The message from the majority of MEPs was clear - the President of EPP-ED, Hans-Gert Pöttering, exclaimed that they did not want a clash of civilisations. He was echoed by the PES President, Enrique Baron, who stressed that the United States must not isolate itself but must be active internationally again. He also said that terrorists' funding had to be cut off, since they were profiting from globalisation. The President of the Liberal group, Pat Cox, stressed the importance of using the right language following the attacks, saying we needed "justice, not revenge" and the word "crusade" must be avoided at all costs, and called on Mr Solana, as Secretary General of the EU Council, to insist that EU Member States ratify the two United Nations Conventions on Terrorism. The Co-President of the Greens/EFA group, Heidi Hautala, echoed this, stressing that we needed international justice and an International Criminal Court to be set up. She recommended setting up an EP/Arabic and Islamic world forum to discuss all aspects of cooperation with the EU. The day before, the President of the Greens/EFA group, Paul Lannoye, called on Nicole Fontaine to invite representatives of the "Islamic world" to such a forum. Mr Lannoye said that the "existing Euro-Mediterranean Forum could be a good platform for the proposed talks, which, on this occasion, should be extended to comprise all Islamic nations" (in other worlds, not just Arab countries). The President of the United European Left/Nordic Green Left group, Francis Wurtz, welcomed Mr Solana's speech but was concerned at President's Bush's latest statements which, he felt, formed part of a dangerous logic of war, and called on the High Representative to state that the European Union would use all its influence to avoid such a chain of events, or at any event, to avoid being dragged into it. Gerald Collins said on behalf of Union for Europe of the Nations that his country (Ireland) would be taking over the Presidency of the United Nations' Security Council at the end of the month and as such, Ireland's message would, echoing the Irish Prime Minister, be that every state had the right to self-defence, but it must react in a proportionate manner and target the sources of terrorism in order to avoid the fight against terrorism being interpreted as a "war of religion". Jens-Peter Bonde, President of the Europe of Democracies and Differences group, also focussed on the need to fight terrorism and not confuse terrorism with Islam since Muslims work with us and are our friends and we must avoid spiralling violence. The only disagreements were voiced by Francesco Speroni (unaligned Northern League) who said that all links must be cut with countries supporting terrorism, and Marie-Françoise Garaud (unaligned, France) who said that religion was at the heart of the issue.