Brussels, 12/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - As voting in the foreign affairs committee showed (see EUROPE 9612), discussion on the report by Ana Maria Gomes (PES, Portugal) on the EU's role in Iraq confirmed the similarity of viewpoints both among MEPs and with the European Commission. All highlighted the quality of Gomes' work on a sensitive subject which has divided the European Parliament and member states since the United States invaded Iraq. The aim of the report was not to re-open the wounds of the past, said Gomes, but to encourage Europe to make a positive contribution in Iraq and the whole region. Voting will take place in Strasbourg on Thursday.
It comes just before the anniversary, on 16 March, of the attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja, where, in 1988, 5,000 civilians died as a result of a chemical attack. At the time, Europe did little against the bloody war being fought by the Saddam Hussein regime against his own people, Gomes pointed out, and she highlighted Europe's moral and legal responsibility towards the Iraqi people. Today, she said, “We have every interest in consolidating a democratic federal state in Iraq,” and she hoped that her report would strengthen European unity of action. “Iraq does not need money or soft loans, it needs technical and institutional assistance,” Gomes said, so that, finally, the country's resources can be used for the good of the people.
Gomes' analysis is clear and complete: we have no choice, we need to act, said European External relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who was, herself, congratulated by MEPs for what she had done. It was possible to move into a new phase, she said, stating that “the security situation seems to be slightly better”, thanks to the US role, to the activities of Sunni organisations and to the extended ceasefire of Shiite imam Moqtada Al Sadr's Mehdi Army. Since 2003, Iraq had received €829 million from Community funds, said the Commissioner, noting all that had been achieved through refurbishment of schools, primary health centres and hospitals, vaccination campaigns, Erasmus programmes, and more. “We are continuing to fund the institutional development of a state whose structures remain weak,” she said. The trade and cooperation agreement should lay the foundations for contractual relations between the EU and Iraq, to help the country continue reforms and rejoin the international community. After the latest round of negotiations, “we are progressing in the areas of human rights, combating terrorism and the environment,” she pointed out. The Slovenian Secretary of State for European Affairs Janez Lenarèiè also felt that these negotiations “are going well”. He also welcomed the creation of a Parliamentary ad hoc group on Iraq.
Ignasi Guardans Cambo (ALDE, Spain) suggested using the trade and cooperation agreement to bring about reforms that would take Iraq closer to a multilateral system and help the people derive the benefit from oil resources. The report's central message was that Europe cannot remain aloof, said Czech MEP Jana Hybáškobvá, on behalf of the EPP-ED group, and she stressed that the rule of law and assistance to the Iraqi police force should be enhanced. Véronique de Keyser (PES, Belgium) said the report must inform all future policies, including budget, with regard to Iraq. Highlighting the plight of refugees, of whom there are over two million in neighbouring countries (especially in Syria and Jordan), she called for Europe to be more generous in accepting refugees. The prospect of a stable Iraq exerting a positive influence on the region was worth special effort, because, once Turkey becomes a member of the EU, Iraq will be our neighbour, noted Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (ALDE, UK). The US, a sine qua non in Iraq, must not be forgotten, said Adam Bielan (UEN, Poland), and Vittrio Agnoletto (GUE/NGL, Italy) called for the withdrawal of US troops and their replacement with a UN force, whose sole mission would be peacekeeping. (A.B.)