Brussels, 26/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - The ACP members of the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly could not find words harsh enough to criticise the cancellation, on Monday, of the session in Brussels. The cancellation results, they say, from a unilateral decision by the European Parliament, which is totally unlawful as it runs counter to the provisions of the Cotonou Agreement, to the Council's common position concerning the penalties applied to the ruling classes in Zimbabwe, as well as to the rules on the way a joint assembly works, as its name indicates (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.3).
In a declaration published last night, the ACP Assembly members "note and deplore" the situation created by the European party and criticise the European Parliament's policy of "fait accompli". The Parliament had, in fact, waited till Friday 22 November at 18h06 (Ed.: the day when the ACP members arrived in Brussels) before informing the ACP party of its decision to ban access to its premises to two members of the Zimbabwean delegation, "without consultation or prior opinion from the joint bodies of the Assembly", although these two members had regular entry and exist visas for Belgium and although the Parliament had been informed of this on 15 November by mail from the Belgian Foreign Minister, Louis Michel. The decision to bar access, they say, is contrary to the provisions of Article 17 of the Cotonou Agreement as it "calls into question the composition of a delegation designated in all sovereignty by the national parliament of an ACP country". They also remark that the working of a joint parliamentary assembly could not, under any circumstances, be compromised by a decision from a third party, as, given its internal regulation, it alone is empowered to enact on participation to its work. This, they say, does not take into account the fact that the Cotonou Agreement confers privileges and immunities on members of the Assembly and that the Council common position concerning restrictive measures against Zimbabwe provides for a derogation for persons "attending meetings of international bodies or conducting political dialogue that promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe". ACP members point out that, from every point of view, their analysis is identical to that of Louis Michel in his letter to President Cox. On this basis, they note the absence of any legal basis to the European Parliament's decision. They also specify that their position, which is exclusively motivated by "respect of the essential principles which preserve the parliamentary, joint, and democratic nature of the JPA" cannot be assimilated to any political support to the government of Zimbabwe. They add that they have proposed several solutions, mainly that of holding the session in another place (at the seat of the ACP Secretariat, for example), and deplore the fact that their effort has come up against a "categorical refusal by the European side". Under such circumstances, they realised that "it is impossible to hold the 5th session of the JPA" while remaining "open to engage a frank and unconditional debate on all issues, especially those relating to the situation in Zimbabwe", in respect of the common principles governing JPA.
During a press conference, on Monday at the seat of the ACP Secretariat, the ACP co-President, Adrien Houngbedji, accompanied by French MEP Fodé Sylla, specified that the solution proposed by the Parliament (to accept the Zimbabwean delegates except the two ministers on the list of 79 persons subject to sanctions) was not conform to the law. "Europeans told us that, in the eyes of the law, you are right but that, politically, one cannot accept their presence. Could one perhaps put the law in parenthesis?" he asked. He added that, despite the cancellation of the plenary, the ACP members would conduct certain work by forming working committees (political affairs, economic and financial development, social affairs) and by deciding to send delegations to the Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Kenya. The ACP members will propose holding the next plenary session in Congo Brazzaville in April 2003. Fodé Sylla considers cancellation of the session is "fantastic advertising for Zimbabwe and a terrible waste", as well as a missed opportunity to dialogue in order to make human rights progress, at a time when many African countries are going through major crises, Côte d'Ivoire for example. In his view, this would cause a damaging precedent that could, for example, "prevent us from defending Glenys Kinnock if ever she is barred access to a country in her capacity as co-President of the Assembly".