Brussels, 20/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Opening the special European Parliament plenary session on Thursday morning on Iraq a few hours after the first US military action, President Pat Cox said "the Council and much of the debate in Europe has been rather a House divided against itself… in the months to come we must learn and apply the lessons of how to work together to create a greater coherence, a greater presence and a greater balance in terms of international affairs".
Expressing his deep sadness at the events of the preceding hours and recalling the Greek Presidency's efforts to prevent war, George Papandreou said that this week's Council had confirmed the differences between Member States on the legitimacy of the war and its impact on stability in the region. He hammered home, however, that the crisis should make the EU think about its real desire to have a Common Foreign Policy that citizens are calling for (in the future, said the Greek foreign minister, we will no doubt need to ensure the views of European citizens are better heard). What should be done now in this "reality" now that war has begun? The President of the Council said that the humanitarian crisis in the area should be addressed (in terms of reconstruction aid, the said that many Member States did not want to talk about the issue before the war began and because they don't like the thought of Europe always being sent in to pick up the pieces); act to achieve stability in the region paying particular attention to the impact of the war in the candidate country of Turkey; insisting that the Middle East roadmap is put into action; cooperating very closely with the Arab world (to MEPs who said this dialogue had got more difficult, Papandreou replied that the anti-war demonstrations in Europe showed that Europeans did not want a clash of civilisations); strengthening transatlantic relations by holding frank discussions with the US about the "real problems of our time" like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Europe has to be stronger, he warned, if we want to be equal partners with the US.
Most of us know that Europe is more likely to achieve what it wants if it can work with the United States, and vice versa, that prosperity, security and stability in the world will be better assured if Europeans and Americans work together, said the European Commissioner for external relations Chris Patten (to enthusiastic applause). He stressed that he did not agree with people judging his attitude to the US in terms of whether or not he agreed with Richard Perle (a Pentagon hawk) since there are millions of Americans, including most of the former Democrat administration, who do not agree with Perle or Kagan (the political annalist who described Europeans as coming from Venus and Americans as coming from Mars, Ed). Once again, Patten was keen to stress that although the CFDP debates at the Convention were "exciting", amending the Treaty would not suffice to create political will. He gave the example of Article 11 of the Treaty, which stipulates that Member States should refrain from any action contrary to the interests of the Union or liable to damage its effectiveness. He said that to emerge not just healed, but strengthened by the trials of the last weeks, the EU had to implement its own enlargement; insist the Middle East peace process was accelerated (the roadmap must be urgently implemented without allowing either side to challenge its validity, otherwise there will be renewed bloodletting rather than peace, he warned); and continue to focus on rebuilding Afghanistan. On humanitarian aid, Patten said the Commission had been hard at work behind the scenes and that ECHO had stepped up its presence in the region and been operating three missions in Iraq since January (see below for the Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson's comments). We should pull out the stops to help Turkey and Iraq's other neighbours, from Jordan to Syria and Iran, added the Commissioner, saying he was very pleased with the initiative taken to achieve closer ties with Teheran, and "not in an ill-formed manner" I hope we won't have to choose in the region between a pro-Western depot and anti-Western democracy. In passing, Chris Patten said that he would be leaving the Commission in November 2003 (to take up his post as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Ed) and hoped that the future would make it possible to go far beyond what Churchill called the thankless desert of Mesopotamia. -By way of conclusion, the real challenge at the moment is that of rebuilding the "institutions and traditions of global governance", so laboriously set in place over the last fifty years.
Most MEPs are highly critical of US intervention, despite some who justify it -Eurosceptics and sovereignists consider the crisis shows inadequacy of Europe and the role of the States
During the debate, only a few MEPs gave explicit justification for US military intervention, but many stressed the fact that the Iraqi regime was responsible for the situation. They generally hoped that the war would be as short-lived as possible and claim as few lives as possible, and insisted on reactivating peace in the Middle East.
The President of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Pöttering pounded out that it is better to have unity between Europeans on fundamental issues such as war and peace and that we must not allow the "creation of axes" to separate us. He urged for "anti-Americanism" to be avoided. Rather than criticise the Americans, we should be stronger to better "influence them", the CDU member said, while considering that there should not be "just one super power" in the world. Gerado Galeote, one of the Spanish members of the group, exclaimed with reference to the peace demonstrations that it is easier to hide behind a banner than to affront a despot. José Ignacio Salafranca added that there is not this problem in Washington, London or Madrid but in Baghdad! Margie Sudre, for her part, said she was "proud to be French" and proud of the effort made by President Chirac to avoid a "pointless war". CDU member Elmar Brok, who noted that the "good news" in this crisis would be the departure of Saddam Hussein, asked whether such a "just objective" deserves so many victims.
Enrique Baron, President of the Socialist Group, called upon current and future EU members not to take part in this "unilateral and morally doubtful" war. He called for EU unity. He repeated that we are not anti-American but we do not follow the American doctrine of preventive war. He was highly critical of any attempt to "redraw the map of the Middle East that the United Kingdom and France had shared between themselves with a ruler in hand". Recalling the remarks by Franklin Roosevelt before the Second World War (one must "fear only fear itself"), the Spanish Socialist exclaimed that we cannot live in the terror of terrorism. Renzo Imbeni, elected member of Democratici di sinistra, said it is not a question of choosing "between US democracy and Iraqi dictatorship" but we must choose between "Annan, representing legality, and Bush; between Simitis and Prodi, who represent the Union, and Blair and Aznar". The Bush Administration "has squandered the enormous political and moral capital" that it had won on 11 September, the Italian MEP said. Luxembourg Socialist Robert Goebbels cited the "values scorned by Bush, the clique behind him and the European slap in the face". He went on to remind those who, like the stock exchanges, are planning on a short, surgical war: Bush senior had at the time stopped before getting to this point knowing that he could get bogged down. In his view, the "mild recession" in the economy for the past three years could become a real recession, and war will not only have civilian victims but will also affect the "human condition" of men and women throughout the world.
This war "is not just", Graham Watson, President of the Liberal Group, insisted. He hoped that the United States would conduct the war in accordance with international norms (and that, above all, it would not use cluster bombs), that it would not "litter the desert", and that it would be just as zealous when it comes to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace and, here too, the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. The British MEP also criticised Europe. Its "tribalism", he said, lets the Americans win the day, something he deplores, saying that things would be different if there were a seat for the EU at the Security Council. Italian MEP Antonio Di Pietro, for his part, criticised the "ruse" of the countries that say they will not take part in war but which then make their bases and airspace available for use, hoping to "share the spoils, like a small dog which, under the master's table, hopes to catch a few crumbs). Forza Italia member Antonio Tajani (who holds a seat at the EPP) did not quote his Italian colleague but said he rejected these "judgements against the Italian government, expressed in such a crude manner". Saddam Hussein is the only dictator to have used weapons of mass destruction, he recalled, in the hope that the European Council of Brussels would provide an opportunity to reaffirm the need for a real single foreign and defence policy.
Francis Wurtz, President of the United Left/Nordic Greens Left Group, expressed indignation saying George Bush dares "speak of morality, of God", when he has made the "most unpardonable decision", that of interrupting the pacific disarmament of Iraq.
Maybe journalists attached to American armed forces will "show us scenes of jubilation", with the Iraqis welcoming the invader with open arms, he ironised, while acknowledging that the Iraqi people "would shed no tears for Saddam Hussein". But what future are we offering the region? asked the MEP, talking of the consequences of "long-term military occupation in one of the largest and most emblematic Arab countries".
This war is "illegal", averred Monica Frassoni, co-President of the Green group, wondering which would be the next country "on President Bush's list". Over the last years, 106 UN resolutions have been broken: 31 by Israel, 23 by Turkey, 18 by Morocco, 16 by Iraq, and so on, she pointed out, to demonstrate that Washington applied different rules to different countries. "European legality" has also been violated, said the Italian Green elected MEP in Belgium, quoting article 19 of the Treaty, which calls upon European members of the Security Council to work together- "which they clearly haven't done". She called the behaviour of the United Kingdom and Spain "illegal and incomprehensible", stating that France and Germany had also broken article 19, because they had not worked with the Greek Presidency and the other European members of the Security Council. This morning, we have already seen the first ten deaths in Baghdad, said Belgian Green Nelly Maes, who wondered if we would be "sacrificing the Kurds".
Charles Pasqua expressed his "sadness' and "uneasiness" for a Europe of Nations, asking the question: "do we want Europe to be independent of the United States?". He does not believe that the Iraqi affair is dividing Europe, as Europe "is deeply divided", with "too many States favouring alliance with the United States". Nobody has ever dared to discuss it, he said.
Our group, like the others, is divided, said Jens-Peter Bonde, President of Europe of Democracies and Diversities, who thinks that one conclusion to be drawn from this crisis is the need to help the UN to reform. Kofi Annan wants a rapid reaction force: why not do this instead of creating a "European military force"? he asked. He also rejected any foreign and security policy decided by qualified majority: on Iraq, there was neither qualified majority for intervention nor against, there were just blocking minorities, he said. In this crisis, "the UN is becoming increasingly insignificant, the EU is on its last legs, and all that remains are States", said Paul Coûteaux, adding "long live the sovereignty of the nations of the world, long live the Iraqi nation, vive la France!" The Dutch Johannes Blokland stated explicitly that the action was "justified", that it was high time something was done (he also welcomed Bush's reference to God in his penultimate statement).
Jean-Philippe Nordmann also believed it was a "just cause", as the conflict brought "soldiers from democratic States against those from a totalitarian State". Therefore, no "equidistance" is possible, he said, calling upon those involved to make sure that this war is "a lesser evil". This war is inevitable, said Harmut Nassauer (CDU), who thinks that "the time for illusions is over. We could have spent six or eight months negotiating to no end", he said, finding Europe's role "lamentable", and asking at least for the Union to play a front-line role in rebuilding Iraq. Lega Nord MEP Mario Borghezio agreed, castigating "single-minded pacifists", hoping that "what happened on 11 September will not happen in London, Milan or Brussels".
Italian radical Marco Pannella criticised Europe in general: for ten years, you have been unwilling to work on the post-Saddam, and now the war is "a present from legalist Europe", whereas "we the non-violent Ghandians are illegal like de Gaulle, like Iraqi and European resistance, and you are legal like Vichy!" he said (Italian radicals have mounted a "Free Iraq" campaign, with Saddam Hussein's departure and a provisional international administration: Ed).