Strasbourg, 16/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - Approving the recommendation by its rapporteur, Gerardo Galeote, the European Parliament gave its assent to the conclusion of the Euro-Mediterranean association agreement between the EU and the Lebanese Republic. It also adopted a resolution by the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar Brok (CDU), in which it trusts that this agreement will help the political, economic and social situation of Lebanon. The Parliament invites the government of Beirut to submit the question of the presence of Syrian troops to the Lebanese parliament, sot that all such troops may be withdrawn from Lebanon. On the subject of human rights, it encourages the Lebanese authorities to: (1) abolish the death penalty; (2) ratify the UN convention against torture; (3) sign the statute of the International Criminal Court; (4) initiate reform of the judiciary; and (5) guarantee freedom of the press (the EP expresses concern about the closing down of the MTV channel and the harassment of journalists). The EP also calls upon Lebanese authorities to stamp out drug crops.
The agreement goes beyond plain commercial reasoning, the rapporteur, Gerardo Galeote (Partido popular, Spain), said. In his view, the aim of the agreement is eminently political. Several problems remain: - despite the withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon, border stability is not yet assured; - the presence of the Hezbollah, as well as that of Syrian forces, is a constant threat; - the problem of persons who have disappeared (said to be 17,000) has still to be resolved: - Mr Galeote calls on the Greek Presidency to play a role of mediation and the Council President assured he would raise the matter at a forthcoming ministerial meeting. Lebanon, continued Elmar Brok (CDU member and chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs), was previously Switzerland's equivalent in the Middle East. The EU must help it, within the framework of the agreement, to regain stability, which means not only solving the problems cited by Mr Galeote but also those on Palestinian refugees, in compliance with human rights and with abolition of the death sentence.
A country of refuge, a region where several different communities live, Lebanon is a multicultural land of many different creeds which, after sixteen years of war, began to regularise its situation with free elections in 2002, Tasso Yiannitsis recalled on behalf of the Presidency. Absolute priority, he said, goes to combating terrorism and respecting human rights. The fact that Lebanon had signed, at the same time on 17 June 2002, both the association agreement and the convention on combating terrorism is therefore a positive fact. The Euro-Mediterranean agreement of a clearly political kind also provides an operational framework for the world of business and the civil society, and represents one step more towards the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area, the Council President said. He welcomed the decision to make the Euro-Mediterranean Forum a real assembly: and a working group is currently active in setting it in place.
Speaking for the Commission, Chris Patten also insisted on the crucial role played by the agreement with Lebanon for the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, recalling that an agreement has still to be negotiated with Syria (the Commissioner said he hoped that, next month, he would be able to persuade it to do so). Freedom of trade with the Union will be to Lebanon's great advantage, as its economic strategy is already liberal. Lebanon clearly understood the message sent to it by the conference of donors last year in Paris, concerning economic reform and debt reduction. But the importance of the agreement is essentially political: its acceptance by Lebanon means a specific commitment with regard respect of human rights and the fight against terrorism.
Lebanon was a country that lived well "before this disease, the fear of others, took hold", Philippe Morillon recalled on behalf of the EPP-ED Group. He went on to say that, if one wants the Lebanese model to affirm itself once more, then the Lebanese people must regain its total independence, and therefore fully release itself from the presence of Syrian troops. The region will not find peace until a Palestinian state has been created, Pasqualina Napoletano said in turn speaking for the Socialist Group. She noted a number of positive developments in Lebanon (the signing of the international convention on women's rights and that against torture) but calls for more (abolition of the death penalty, and the truth regarding those who have disappeared). Ms Napoletano calls for the MEDA programme to explicitly support the development of civil society in this country. The clause on respect of human rights must be scrupulously complied with, Cecilia Malström, for the Liberals, said. And, on behalf of the United Left/Nordic Left, Yasmine Boudjenah urged for the human individual to be placed at the centre of Euro-Mediterranean relations, expressing a certain scepticism about the impact of a free trade area that would in fact deprive some countries in need of their customs revenue. According to Hélène Flautre (for the Greens/EFA), the Council should call on Syria and Israel for precise information on persons who have disappeared from Lebanon, and defend the freedom of the press and the Lebanese opposition. Syria and Iran should be questioned on the presence of the Hezbollah, which represents a threat for Israel, Bastiaan Belder affirms, speaking for the European of Democracies and Diversities. Luis Queiro, on the other hand, speaking for the Union for a Europe of Nations, invites Lebanon not only to fight against terrorism but also to combat corruption and money laundering.