One-minute speeches (Rule 144)
President
The next item is one-minute speeches.
György Schöpflin
Mr President, the mounting crisis in relations between Estonia and Russia affects us all. What we have is a clear case of undue pressure by a large country against a small one. This is the kind of behaviour from which the European Union protects small states. Russia has persistently accused Estonia of nurturing something that it calls 'fascism', without producing a shred of evidence. The campaign brings the very idea of anti-fascism into disrepute, above all because Russia itself is behaving like a fascist state. The campaign dishonours the memory of those who really did fight fascism and especially those who gave their lives in that struggle, millions of Russians included. Anti-fascism means democracy and equality of respect for all. Russia, by contradicting this, is reviving fascism and thereby turning into a threat to Europe as a whole.
Proinsias De Rossa
Madam President, I would like to raise a serious matter of EU funding being misused, in my view, for the destruction of archaeological heritage in Ireland. I appeal to Commissioner Dimas to intervene directly with Minister Roche in Ireland to ensure that these subsidies, which are being provided to build the N3 motorway in County Meath, are not facilitating the destruction of a recently discovered Neolithic site - a 'woodhenge'. This is an extremely important site, quite close to the historic Tara Hill. The Director of the National Museum in Ireland has called for a complete archaeological excavation, but, given that Minister Roche has been deaf to all expert advice so far, there is a real risk that this unique Neolithic site will be lost. In view of the European investment in this motorway project, it is essential that the Commission step in to ensure that a significant part of not only Irish heritage, but by definition also part of European heritage, is properly excavated, and that if necessary the N3 motorway be reconfigured to achieve that objective.
Marco Pannella
(IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we are about to witness a dishonourable - I repeat: dishonourable - episode in the European Union, the responsibility for which rests primarily with the Council and with the inertia of the Commission, which are in breach of compulsory mandates that we have given them. In December 1994 we were defeated by a mere eight votes when the universal moratorium on the death penalty was about to be established. Since then, for 13 years, the overwhelming majority of the UN has been ready to vote for this great principle of civilisation. Since then the European Union has prevented them from voting.
Parliament has said during this part-session that the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) that will take place on Monday 14 May is probably preparing, once again, to betray the mandate entrusted to it and to postpone for yet another year this certain victory.
Madam President, I would ask you to urge the President of Parliament to deal promptly with the issue.
Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański
(PL) Madam President, Poland's fruit growers have suffered yet another setback. Poor protection of the internal market against excessive imports and dumping has been compounded by frost which has destroyed some 90% of this year's harvest. The losses, estimated at some 1.5 billion EUR, are beyond the means of the Polish Government and insurance companies. Low returns on fruit farming, particularly soft fruits, and especially since Poland's accession to the EU, has meant a reluctance to insure harvests, both by insurance companies and by the farmers themselves, who simply cannot afford it. This situation requires immediate assistance from the European Union, both emergency aid and long-term aid for the coming years. If not, Poland's farmers will be condemned to bankruptcy, and the EU to importing its fruit from third countries.
Gerard Batten
Madam President, the European Commission has wisely dropped plans to enforce complete metrication in the UK. It realises that nothing would be more likely to ferment rebellion against the European Union amongst the general population than for them to lose the pound, the pint and the mile. This is a victory for Britain, but it is only a skirmish that has been won. The European Union has made a tactical withdrawal in order to fight more strategic battles later. The struggle for British independence is still being waged and the final victory, when Britain leaves the European Union, is still some way off. The next big confrontation will be over the revised European Constitution. At this point I would like to add my voice to those calling for a posthumous royal pardon to be granted to the metric martyr, Steve Thoburn, who was convicted in the year 2000 for the heinous criminal offence of selling bananas in pounds and ounces.
Hans-Peter Martin
(DE) Madam President, I should like to inform the public and those responsible of an outrageous case of obstructing the work of an independent Member of the European Parliament. In Austria, the top candidate of the Liberal Forum at the last student elections, Martin Ehrenhauser, received a letter on 20 April 2007 stating: 'We are offering you a job as a contract agent from 15 May 2007 working for the political group of Non-attached Members in the European Parliament.' Mr Ehrenhauser travelled here. Suddenly the letter is no longer valid. The reason: a political instruction from the very top, from the new Secretary General, Harald Rømer.
This is unacceptable. It was a bolt from the blue and in this case it affects me. You will be aware that every Member has the right to work with at least one member of parliamentary staff in his group in his mother tongue. I am the only one who is denied this privilege, because there is a desire to make the work of an unpleasant critic more difficult. At the same time, it is precisely the large groups here that allocate themselves legions of staff who are loyal to their party. Altogether Parliament employs thousands of staff.
I call on the Bureau and those responsible to investigate this case. This kind of thing is detrimental to Parliament and it is also detrimental to our understanding of democracy.
Jaroslav Zvěřina
(CS) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in these post-modern times, marriage is becoming less and less popular, especially among young people, yet it remains the foundation of the family. It is thus in the interest of the Member States and of the EU as a whole to support marriage. Following our accession to the EU, I frequently hear complaints about the long-term complications people face when they marry citizens of other Member States.
It is hard for EU citizens to understand that there is no agreement between EU Member States on the mutual recognition of official documents. Men and women wanting to get married have to spend time and effort going around numerous offices to complete bureaucratic formalities in order to make the wedding possible. For me too as an MEP it is hard to understand why the offices of one Member State refuse to recognise marriage certificates or confirmations of citizenship as stated in normal documents. Young people find the process of obtaining current documents and having them super-legalised especially arduous. I am under no illusions about our ability to harmonise codes. Nevertheless our citizens certainly deserve some simple measures aimed at simplifying those laws.
Eugenijus Gentvilas
(LT) Russia is behaving disgracefully in Estonia and is not even trying to hide its behaviour. The Russians have commenced an economic blockade against a European Union Member State. In the past, Russia has behaved more subtly in Latvia or Lithuania, or in other countries, which is perhaps why the European Union has been nonchalant about most of Russia's actions. After the events in Estonia I urge you to reconsider the European Union's relations with Russia. Strategic partnership should be replaced by principled, honourable and pragmatic cooperation.
In my opinion, it is essential to postpone the 18 May meeting in Samara. We need to lay out the European Union's opinion to Russia on what conditions are essential for such meetings to be able to take place again in the future. Javier Solana must go to Moscow and clearly state the European Union's position. Europe has enough arguments. My fear is that some European Union leaders will want to have yet another photo opportunity with the antidemocratic Putin, rather than defend the European Union's democratic values.
Malcolm Harbour
Madam President, I start by saying to you - and I hope you will convey this to the President - how much I enjoyed the initiative he took in inviting Nobel Prize winners here this afternoon and particularly hearing from distinguished scientists speaking to us in this Chamber. We have many issues to deal with, colleagues, involving science and technology and we do not have enough dialogue with the science and technology community. Through this speech tonight, I would like to draw to the attention of all my colleagues the fact that the Parliament's own Science and Technology Assessment Unit, of which I am privileged to be Vice-President, with my colleague Mr Busquin as President, is holding a major event in the June Strasbourg week, called the STOA Experience. There will be exhibitions of recent work and many distinguished scientists will meet and talk to Members about the projects we have under way. I hope many colleagues will take a real opportunity to step up dialogue between ourselves in this Parliament and the leaders in the science and technology community within the European Union.
President
Thank you for drawing that to our attention, Mr Harbour.
John Attard-Montalto
Madam President, I would like to emphasise a point which is not universally known in the European Union. This is the fact that - with the exception of Denmark - cars are most expensive in my country, the smallest country in the EU. This is mainly due to the fact that there is an extraordinary tax called registration tax, which is sometimes higher than the value of the car itself. This means that, in a country where wages are on a par at most with middle-income Europe, the price of vehicles, whether new or second hand, is exorbitant. This creates undue stress for middle- and lower-income families when it comes to changing their cars. It also affects the whole idea of world climate change. Although Malta is small, car owners find it terribly difficult to change their cars to more efficient energy-saving cars and those which produce less exhaust.
Marian Harkin
Madam President, as an Irish Member I am delighted to have one minute to add my voice to the many voices who celebrate and applaud what happened yesterday in Belfast. Indeed it is fitting that earlier today we congratulated Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan, David Trimble and John Hume, all Nobel Prize winners, for their contribution to peace-building and peacemaking in Northern Ireland. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan worked within their communities and that is where real peace building is achieved, between people, between families, between neighbours and between communities. But we also need political leadership to drive the process forward and today we honoured two of those politicians, David Trimble and John Hume. There were many other politicians at different levels who took risks for peace and they too deserve our applause.
As we celebrate 50 years of the EU, it is most appropriate to recognise that the EU has also played an important role in the peace process in Northern Ireland, giving us moral and economic support. For that support I believe I can say on my own behalf and on behalf of Irish people, thank you to the EU for believing in us and supporting us on the road to peace.
Antonio De Blasio
. - (HU) Over the past six years, factories on Austrian territory have been continuously polluting the waters of the Rába River. The Rába crosses the Hungarian border already filled with polluted, foamy water. The Hungarian Minister of Environmental Protection, who stepped down yesterday, gave the Austrian factories until 1 May to stop the pollution, but no progress has so far been made. On 1 April, together with my colleague I personally delivered to the Austrian authorities the petition of the Hungarian delegation of the People's Party, calling upon the provincial and federal government to take the necessary steps. To date we have received no answer to our petition.
The Austro-Hungarian Water Commission, which years ago granted the factories an operating licence, is currently holding its annual meeting. This commission is made up of delegates by the governments of the two States, and the revocation of water rights licences likewise falls within their competence. We must do everything possible to stop this harmful, cross-border environmental pollution; therefore I call upon the Austro-Hungarian Water Commission, and thus indirectly on the governments of the two Member States in question - in which I request the assistance of Parliament - to revoke, effective immediately, the water rights licences of those factories which are polluting the river.
Marios Matsakis
Madam President, as we celebrate 50 years of European values and fundamental principles, democracy in a candidate Member State is struggling to survive. The elected Government of Turkey is openly threatened by the country's biggest enemy, its army generals. The Turkish army, instead of protecting democracy, is set on a course to destroy it. Irrespective of our personal stance on Turkey's accession to the EU, it is to our benefit and to the benefit of the Turkish people that Turkey continues its reform process. It is our duty to support the political powers of Turkey, represented today by Mr Erdogan's Government, in their fight against the anachronistic armed forces, represented by Chief of Staff General Buyukanit. I call upon the President of this House to make a statement as soon as possible to express our strong support for the Government of Turkey and our dismay at the interference of the army in the politics of the country.
The European Parliament's message to the Turkish army generals should be loud and clear: 'Keep to your barracks and stop your war on democracy'.
Milan Gaľa
(SK) I have been following the situation concerning political prisoners in Cuba for quite some time. It was with pleasure that I received the news that several opposition groups had recently come up with a joint declaration in which they committed themselves to a united approach in the struggle for a peaceful transition to democracy on the island.
The signatories of the declaration include such well-known dissidents such as Oswaldo Payá from the Christian Democratic Movement for Liberation, Elizardo Sanchez from the Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission, and Martha Beatriz Roque and René Gómez Manzano from the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society. The document was also signed by the members of the organisation set up by the wives of political prisoners, known as the Ladies in White.
A unified peaceful opposition is essential to pursuing the changes that are needed by the people. One must not overlook the fact that, despite some political and philosophical differences, these groups share the same goals, including respect for human rights, reconciliation, the release of political prisoners, non-violence and cooperation.
Zita Pleštinská
(SK) The purpose of my presentation is to warn European consumers who wear Chinese textile products. Regrettably, many of those products are coloured using azocolourants that do not meet the standards set in Directive 2002/61/EC on azocolourants.
When people wear such textile products, the azocolourants penetrate the body like silent killers and cause cancer. Just as recently as May 2006 the laboratories of an authorised entity operating in the town of Svit, Slovakia, tested a sample of 90 textile products for children randomly collected on the Slovak market, most of them imported from China, and found that every fifteenth product was hazardous.
One can reasonably assume that large batches of essentially identical textile goods are to be found on the markets of other EU Member States. As these are extremely dangerous products, I urge the Commission to take effective measures to shorten as much as possible the time between sample collection and the publishing of an alert in the RAPEX system. The 3.5 months or more that it now takes is long enough for the hazardous product to be sold out and disappear from the market. I find these facts disconcerting, and I strongly believe that we must not remain inactive.
Czesław Adam Siekierski
(PL) Madam President, there is a saying that you can tell who your real friends are in a crisis. At the moment, Poland's soft fruit farmers are facing such a crisis because of the frosts that have hit Poland in recent weeks. Soon these farms and their families will sink into poverty. Poland's farmers are hoping for some support from the EU, and that someone will reach out with a helping hand. This is what should in fact happen, as that is what solidarity means, that is what being together and helping one another in difficulty means. Lech Wałęsa, who is present in this House today, could tell you much more about this. Help from the European Union will create a good climate and increase our citizens' regard for the EU. Here in this House, in the EU institutions, we need to develop instruments at EU level to help those countries, regions and industries that have been afflicted by natural disasters.
President
That concludes the item.


2. Azerbaijan: freedom of expression
President
The next item is the debate on seven motions for a resolution on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
Fiorello Provera
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe has embarked on an interesting Eastern Partnership project, which has met with support and encouraging collaboration from six countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
This operation is improving the relationship between the European Union and these countries and may lead to democratic and economic development of the area, albeit to a varying extent depending on the history of each country. Given this intelligent political strategy, in my view, it is inappropriate to hold this urgent debate on two young bloggers sentenced following events for which proceedings are still ongoing while we overlook other situations that are truly tragic, such as the recent massacre of 57 people who had come together to support a presidential election candidate in the Philippines.
All parliamentary groups, with the exception of ours, support a motion for a resolution on Azerbaijan that is harsh and out of step with the partnership initiatives that we have undertaken. I am convinced that the strong views contained in the resolution put to the vote today may not only lead to the Azerbaijani Government stiffening relations with Europe, but may also have a counterproductive effect on the case of these two young people, in that this resolution could jeopardise the granting of a pardon.
In this regard, I would like to remind you of the decision, adopted yesterday in plenary, whereby we rejected a resolution on the Aminatou Haidar case so as not to compromise the ongoing diplomatic negotiations. I feel that it is also contradictory that in the same session, two resolutions are being put to the vote, one on Belarus and the other on Azerbaijan, both very different in tone, when these two countries are part of the same Eastern Partnership.
Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg
When, on 11 November this year, Europe marked the anniversary of the end of the First World War, in Azerbaijan, a sentence of several years' imprisonment was passed on some journalists who had dared to write about the country's widespread corruption and unemployment. The journalists were officially charged with spreading hooliganism and terrorism.
In the ranking produced by Freedom House, Azerbaijan has the status of 'Not Free'. Reporters Without Borders say Azerbaijan is in 146th place out of 175 countries surveyed in terms of freedom of speech. Disturbing signals are also coming from analyses conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which has evaluated Azerbaijan on the question of political freedoms. In this context, last year's refusal by the authorities in Azerbaijan to grant concessions to foreign media, such as the BBC and Radio Free Europe, should not surprise anyone.
I think the time has come for the European Union to review its approach to Azerbaijan and, taking advantage of the participation of Baku in the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Policy, to begin to exert greater pressure on the authorities there. In addition, I would like to add my voice to the appeal of my political group for the unconditional release of the imprisoned journalists and adequate revision of Azerbaijani law.
Marietje Schaake
author. - Mr President, Azerbaijan is signatory to a number of partnerships with the EU. It is active in the neighbourhood policy as well as in the Eastern Partnership. This does not only relate to trade. Azerbaijan has also signed up to respect democracy, human rights and the rule of law. However, currently, these are all under serious threat with the present regime.
Today we highlight the case of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, which represents a crackdown on free media, free expression and civil society that is much deeper and wider than the case of merely two bloggers, as they have been called. They did indeed use new media like Facebook and Twitter for their youth organisation's work, but the fact is that we do not even know why they are imprisoned as evidence to defend their case has not been admitted in the trial, and the trial did not meet international standards - and, indeed, looks fabricated.
If we cannot rely on the Azerbaijani Government to stay true to its commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of the law through the various agreements it has itself signed with the EU, then Europe cannot consider Azerbaijan to be a credible partner at all; this is also true of trade relations.
This resolution urges the Azerbaijani Government to adhere to its own promises and to start building its legitimacy in the international community by respecting its own citizens, granting them democratic and human rights and allowing for respect of the rule of law.
Yesterday, we awarded the Sakharov Prize in this House of the European people, and we saw a very impressive speech by the laureate, Mr Kovalev, who said that fear can only be met by freedom of thought, and freedom of thought can only be expressed when freedom of expression is actually guaranteed and when we listen to those people who are simply addressing issues such as opposition to their government, which we, as Europeans, have to guarantee in partnership with Azerbaijan in all areas.
Ulrike Lunacek
Mr President, the previous speaker has already mentioned some of the details of this resolution. The resolution was prompted among other things by an incident in July 2009 in which two young bloggers, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, were attacked in a restaurant, went to the police to report the incident and were then arrested themselves.
They were prosecuted and, according to all the international observers, including Amnesty International, the court proceedings were far from fair. For example, the video which was apparently taken in the restaurant, which clearly showed who had been attacked and that the attackers were other people and not these two bloggers, was not played.
It is therefore clear that the judgment does not meet the criteria required by a state under the rule of law. I very much hope that all the evidence will have to be presented in the second trial when it takes place.
I am pleased that we have succeeded in introducing a resolution which is supported by almost all the groups. I regret that Mr Provera's group is not joining us and instead is emphasising that we should wait for the case to resolve itself and to make use of the diplomatic channels.
Mr Provera, I believe that it is necessary for Parliament, which is in partnership with the Parliament of Azerbaijan, to express itself clearly. Human rights represent a fundamental issue. Mrs Schaake referred yesterday to the Sakharov Prize. We must speak out in support of freedom of thought in all parts of the world and ensure that it is protected.
President Aliyev has often said how important the rights of every journalist are and that they must be defended by the state. It is our job to remind everyone of this and I very much hope that in future, there will be another resolution on partnership between the Parliament of Azerbaijan and the European Parliament, as unfortunately this was unsuccessful two weeks ago.
Joe Higgins
author. - Mr President, I welcome the attention drawn to the appalling and consistent crushing of human rights in Azerbaijan: no freedom for the media, dozens of journalists jailed, some beaten, some even killed in recent years. But we must ask why the regime of Mr Aliyev is implementing such horrific repression. The reason of course is to try and cover up the regime of enormous corruption which exists in that country. The ruling elite has enriched itself fabulously, especially in the oil and gas industry, while 90% of the population of Azerbaijan live in acute poverty and have seen no benefit from the natural resources of their country.
Western governments and multinational corporations act, as usual, with great hypocrisy in this regard. They routinely deal with the regime to facilitate doing business, and the corporations make massive profits from the exploitation of the natural resources properly belonging to the people of Azerbaijan. Western governments should be asked why they do not demand that the oil-well be used to transform the lives of the people, instead of propping up this regime.
Members of the European Parliament, quite correctly, are harsh in their condemnation of the crushing of the right to dissent and to demonstrate freely in Azerbaijan, and I cannot let this opportunity pass to also condemn the disgraceful repression of protests by the Danish police in Copenhagen in recent days, who arrested up to 1 000 entirely peaceful protestors, handcuffed them and left them lying for hours in the cold.
When I protested and demanded the release of some CWI colleagues, the police themselves told me that it was preventive arrest, preventive detention. What goes for Azerbaijan should certainly go for a Member State of the European Union as well.
Ryszard Antoni Legutko
Mr President, in Azerbaijan, for fairly mild and delicate criticism of the government, two people have gone to prison after being given stiff sentences. What does this mean?
Firstly, that the country does not have good legal institutions, and it does not look like such institutions are going to arise. Secondly, that Azerbaijan has an authoritarian system which is taking control of more and more areas of political life. Every concession is punished. What can we do in this situation?
We should certainly intervene in every specific case of the violation of justice, as we are doing in this debate. Such interventions have quite often been successful. It is significantly more difficult to force institutional change. To date, the efforts of the EU in this area have been unsatisfactory, partly because we are still lenient towards some tyrants and vociferous in our criticism of others. The representatives of Memorial mentioned this several times in this House.
We also have problems in part because the process of coming out of authoritarianism is very difficult, arduous and prolonged. It is a very pessimistic conclusion, but I close with this thought: in spite of everything, we should not cease in our efforts, and should be consistent in exerting pressure.
Tunne Kelam
author. - Mr President, at the beginning of this year, the European Union made a statement on freedom and media in Azerbaijan. I regret the fact that, after concern on media freedom was expressed during the regular meeting with Azerbaijani parliamentarians, there has been no feedback. The European Parliament therefore has to take a stand. This is, by the way, going to be our last resolution adopted in 2009.
The main concern of the EPP Group, and I am happy that all factions share the same concern, is the deterioration of media freedom in that country. The widespread practice of harassment, persecution and conviction of opposition journalists is alarming. We call on Azerbaijani authorities to release the journalists in jail without further delay. This also concerns two young bloggers.
The second problem is a recent decision by Azerbaijani authorities to cancel the FM radio licences of several international radio stations like Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, BBC World Service and others, depriving listeners in this country of valuable and independent sources of information. Here I ask colleagues to agree to an oral amendment to paragraph 7 of the resolution: namely, not only to voice regret at the situation, but also to urge the Azerbaijani Government to cancel its decision and renew FM licences for the radio stations mentioned.
Variety, freedom and independence of information are key to a robust civil society, as Sergei Kovalev told us yesterday in this Chamber. This applies fully to the EU's relations with Azerbaijan too.
Laima Liucija Andrikienė
on behalf of the PPE Group. - Mr President, Azerbaijan is an important partner of the European Union. It is certainly an essential partner in efforts to ensure European energy security.
However, no matter how important oil and gas are, they are not everything. Azerbaijan has made commitments to work for a democratic and pluralistic society, as enshrined in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the Eastern Partnership policy, in which Azerbaijan intends to participate fully. We should applaud steps in the right direction taken by President Aliyev, for example, to free 119 prisoners, including five journalists, at the end of 2007.
However, the situation of media freedom is only getting worse. We have a number of cases to support this claim, such as the situation of bloggers, the licences of the BBC, Radio Free Europe, etc. We must not shy away from reminding Azerbaijan that people must have the right to speak out freely, even if this means having critical views towards their governments. That is the basic principle of a democratic society, and a democratic Azerbaijan has to be an aim just as important as...
(The President cut off the speaker)
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of democracy. Azerbaijan ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and has undertaken to observe the provisions of Article 10 of this convention, which is devoted to freedom of expression and information. This Article establishes every person's right to freely express their opinion, receive and share information, without let or hindrance from governing institutions. Azerbaijan also has made a commitment not to flout human rights and not to impinge on individual freedoms and to safeguard the principles of democracy in its country by participating in the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership initiative. However, recently in Azerbaijan, the right to freedom of expression and freedom of association has increasingly come under threat and media activities are restricted. There is growing violence against journalists and civil society activists. I would like to urge Azerbaijan to take into account the European Parliament's proposals and encouragement to improve the human rights protection system and to ensure respect for media freedoms.
Ryszard Czarnecki
Mr President, Azerbaijan has appeared once again on the agenda of the European Parliament. We spoke about Azerbaijan in the last parliamentary term, when we adopted three resolutions, including one about freedom of the media there. We also spoke about the Southern Caucasus, again including Azerbaijan.
We are interested in Azerbaijan and have a great deal of goodwill for the country. It is trying to find its way step-by-step, and, indeed, is moving ever nearer to the western world, and not to the east. We should appreciate this. I think that we look upon Azerbaijan with a great deal of goodwill, and also on the authorities there. However, that goodwill must not order us not to speak out about things we do not like. Certainly, a situation in which two bloggers are locked up because they say what they think about the authorities is something which should not take place.
We should support the pro-European tendencies of the Azerbaijani authorities, because all the time, a political discussion is going on there about whether to be closer to the European Union or to Russia. In so doing, we should support all those who want to be closer to the western world. However, when supporting them, we must talk about the values which make up that world - freedom of the press and freedom of expression are a fundamental value, and we should make this very plain.
Azerbaijan is certainly not in an easy position, because Russia is trying to rebuild its area of political and economic influence, but when helping the Azerbaijani authorities to draw nearer to the EU, we must speak out about the country's deficiencies.
Jaroslav Paška
Freedom of expression is a very important feature of a democratic society. It is therefore correct that the EU monitors very carefully any actions aimed at intimidating those who openly criticise the mistakes of government officials.
From this perspective, I understand the challenge of the European Parliament to the Azerbaijan office expressing disquiet over the results of a police investigation mounted against young people who make satirical references to visible shortcomings in the political life of the country. I agree that we cannot ignore the clearly unfavourable signals coming from Azerbaijan and I do not doubt the criticism of the political environment in Azerbaijan, but I also feel that there has been no emphatic criticism from the European Parliament concerning the current events in the Philippines, where 57 political hostages have been murdered. In my opinion, we should address all issues that shake the democratic world.
Bernd Posselt
(DE) Mr President, following the first European elections in 1979, I had the honour of working with Otto von Habsburg, who is now seriously ill, to establish the human rights tradition of the European Parliament, including these topical and urgent debates on a Thursday afternoon. I was elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and I had the honour of working with Mr Schulz and others to further develop this human rights tradition, which we are rightly proud of. For this reason I was shocked when Mr Provera said with reference to Mr Schulz, who did not deserve this, that the case should not be taken up and almost repeated the threats made by the regime in Azerbaijan to civil rights activists in the country by saying that they will have to put up with it.
The human rights prize has already been mentioned today. I remember well that when we expressed our support for Andrei Sakharov, Vytautas Landsbergis and other campaigners for civil rights, people said at the time: Please do not get involved. We will make use of the diplomatic channels and you are causing more harm than good. Now we know that it was decisive for these people that Parliament spoke out clearly on their behalf. Therefore, Mr Schulz, ladies and gentlemen, let us continue our tradition of independence on a Thursday afternoon. I would like to ask the group chairs to give us some freedom to act.
This has nothing to do with party politics. During the last session, one Member said that as we were just about to hold meetings with China, we could not talk about China. Today it was a different subject, the Western Sahara. Perhaps this is justified in individual cases, but I am seriously concerned about our human rights work. Ladies and gentlemen, the case of Azerbaijan demonstrates how important it is to be discerning here. The country was a Soviet satellite state. Monocultures were established, the country was destroyed and subjected to a brutal regime. Now it is slowly beginning to become more democratic. As a member of the Council of Europe, it has committed to human rights and we must help it to continue along this route.
(Applause)
Cristian Dan Preda
(RO) I, too, support what Mr Posselt said earlier. At the same time, I would ask for the Azerbaijani Government to respect the right of freedom of expression of every citizen and to immediately drop the charges against the two young men, accused on the basis of fabricated evidence, as Mrs Lunacek mentioned earlier. I believe that this action must be taken urgently because the situation with regard to press freedom in this country has deteriorated sharply, as is also indicated by the latest reports from the Council of Europe and OSCE.
I also think that the Azerbaijani Government must take this action urgently because it must respect the commitments arising from both the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership.
I will conclude by saying that I, too, was shocked by the turn of events today with regard to Mrs Haidar, all the more so as the suffering she is going through could be avoided through good cooperation between the Moroccan and Spanish authorities.
I believe that our resolution would not have done any harm, but actually a lot of good.
Tadeusz Zwiefka
(PL) Mr President, I would like to quote from Article 47 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan: 'Everyone may enjoy freedom of thought and speech.' Unfortunately, they are only empty words, for the constitution is not respected.
For over five years, I have been a member of the EU-Southern Caucasus Parliamentary Cooperation Committees. I visited Azerbaijan during every joint parliamentary session. In one of the documents, there is a point about the violation of the principles of freedom of speech, and about how journalists and publishers end up in prison, often on fabricated charges, and that they are not given medical help when they are ill. We have a case of a journalist who died because he did not receive medical assistance.
I had the opportunity to visit Azeri prisons. The standards which are found there are far different from those to which we are accustomed in Europe. It is good, therefore, that we keep on saying that in Azerbaijan, the principles enshrined in the constitution should be respected.
Paweł Samecki
Member of the Commission. - Mr President, Azerbaijan is important to the European Union as an energy producer and transit country, and also as a contributor to regional stability in the Southern Caucasus. Azerbaijan is one of the six partner countries under the Eastern Partnership, and we attach great importance to respect for the common values underpinning this relationship.
A partnership and cooperation agreement has been in place for 10 years. However, Azerbaijan has expressed its interest in building closer relations with the European Union by concluding an association agreement to replace it.
Following the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers in September to start preparations for concluding such agreements with the Southern Caucasus countries, discussions on the negotiation directives, including for Azerbaijan, are now ongoing.
In line with the Council's decision, the start of negotiations for all the Southern Caucasus countries will be conditional on sufficient progress in meeting the necessary political conditions, namely the rule of law and respect for human rights, the principles of the market economy, as well as sustainable development and good governance.
Each year, we draw an in-depth and balanced assessment setting out progress made by each partner country to implement their action plans under the European Neighbourhood Policy. We have just started the preparatory work for the 2009 report.
I do not want to pre-empt our report but would like to make a few remarks, particularly on the situation regarding fundamental freedoms and human rights. In our 2008 report, we stated that 'Azerbaijan has made good progress in economic development, but continues to show a poor record of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law'.
Since then, we have unfortunately seen some negative developments, including changes to the Constitution, the abolition of limits on the mandate of the Head of State, as well as the detention and subsequent condemnation of two bloggers.
Negative developments also include the continued persecution of human rights defenders, opposition activists and journalists, in addition to further deterioration of media freedom.
The European Union has, in its various contacts, taken up these issues at all levels with the authorities and will continue to do so. At the same time, the Commission is mobilising a wide range of tools to assist Azerbaijan to meet the challenges of a new agreement.
We are using assistance under the ENPI instrument. We provide targeted support under the comprehensive institution-building programme. This will have important elements related to the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.
Azerbaijan will also benefit from assistance under the European initiative for democracy and human rights.
Lastly, under the existing partnership and cooperation agreement, we are proposing to set up a subcommittee dedicated to justice, freedom and security, and human rights and democracy. This will constitute an important and additional forum for communicating our messages.
President
The debate is closed.
The vote will take place at the end of the debate.