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Condemnation of death sentences for medics in Libya
January 19, 2007 2:33 PM
Madam President, I too wish to congratulate you on your election.
Commissioner Barrot called for discretion, and none of us want to do or say anything to prejudice the prospects of a just solution to this terrible situation affecting our fellow EU citizens and the Palestinian doctor.
However, the Commissioner rightly also called for firmness. The search for a solution must not be affected by the development of wider interests between Libya and the EU, such as the close cooperation that has grown, in particular between Italy and Libya, regarding the return of illegal immigrants, of whom Libya is now hosting over one million.
The European Parliament has expressed great concern about the lack of access of many of these people, whether in the EU or Libya, to a refugee determination process. Whatever our interests in managing or preventing that flow - and, unfortunately, the lack of a truly comprehensive EU migration policy hinders proper management - we must not let those interests prevail over the demands of justice and human rights. Plans for an EU-Libya action plan on migration are quite rightly, if unhelpfully, frozen because of the Benghazi case, and they must not be unfrozen until there is a proper solution.
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