Porto Alegre, 27/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - At the third World Parliamentary Forum in Porto Alegre from 22 to 24 January ahead of (and part of) the World Social Forum (23-28 January), some 300 MPs from 29 countries, including Members of the European Parliament (GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and Socialists), adopted a resolution suggesting tat a series of parliamentary delegations be sent to Iraq in the weeks following 15 February (the day of anti-war demonstrations around the world). In particular, a delegation of 34 MEPs (mainly Greens and members of the United European Left) will be in Baghdad from 2 to 7 February. Radical left MPs from Brazil have expressed interest in joining them. (See pages 16 to 18 on the Forum.) The World Parliamentary Forum will also demand to meet the UN Security Council and will be meeting members of the United States Congress and the US anti-war movement to express its support.
Francis Würtz, President of the EP's United Left/Nordic Green Left group, drew a highly positive balance sheet of the Parliamentary Forum from the point of view of its political content. He stressed the importance of the Forum from the opening ceremony, given the presence of several ministers from Lula's government (in Brazil), following his "historic election", and also because of the "threat of war". He asserted there was a connection between neo-liberalism and war and between war and environmental destruction.