Council Question Time
President
The next item is Question Time (B6-0133/2007).
The following questions have been submitted to the Council.
Subject: Aids for shipwreck rescue operations
Since there are Member States which are in open breach of their international obligations concerning shipwreck rescue operations by refusing to accept in their territory persons rescued by vessels from other Member States, can the Council state whether it intends to adopt measures to ensure that the above obligations are complied with throughout the Union, including, where appropriate, aids to individuals or public institutions taking responsibility in terms of humanitarian obligations under international law?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) As the honourable Member is aware, the Council is not in a position to verify whether or not the Member States are complying with their various international obligations under international conventions.
The current situation relating to the European Union's southern maritime borders was debated in the Council of 12 June. The Council intends to carry out an in-depth analysis of certain proposals put forward by Malta relating to the recent events in the Mediterranean Sea, which will take pertinent international instruments such as the SOLAS and SAR conventions into account. Due attention will also be given to the Commission's study on international legal instruments relating to illegal immigration by sea.
In addition, the need to provide Frontex with the necessary resources to carry out its mandate efficiently was noted, and the Commission intends to increase its operational budget for 2007. The Member States were also call on to honour their commitment to ensure that data is registered in the centralised record of available technical equipment.
Manuel Medina Ortega
(ES) Mr President-in-Office of the Council, I should like to begin by thanking you for answering my question first. I wish the Portuguese Presidency every success, because we all need you to be successful.
Secondly, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, I should like to express great concern at the inadequacy of the 2 June agreements. The EU, which is the wealthiest Community of states in the world, cannot allow itself to continue to allow a country to let dozens of shipwrecks perish in the sea due to a lack of practical measures. I believe that the EU has sufficient means at its disposal and yet the resources we have to deal with such situations - in particular Frontex - are completely inadequate. It is shameful and unacceptable that the EU should behave in this manner due to a lack of economic measures.
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) I would firstly like to thank the honourable Member for his kind words in wishing the Portuguese Presidency good luck.
I would like to say that this is a question that the Portuguese Presidency considers not just important, but in fact a priority. In his speech in the Chamber this morning, setting out the priorities for the six-month period of the Portuguese Presidency, the Portuguese Prime Minister had stressed that issues relating to the fight against illegal immigration would be a priority for the Portuguese Presidency. We shall indeed be working hard to address these issues, but always from a humanitarian perspective, which, for us, is fundamental.
As you are aware, certain measures in this area were taken by the last European Council. Obviously, we could always do more, and perhaps should do more. However, I repeat that we consider this issue to be a priority. They form a major part of the Portuguese Presidency's list of priorities so the honourable Member can rest assured that we will be doing everything possible to address the justified concerns that he has expressed here.
President

Subject: Provision of adequate, high-quality childcare facilities in the Member States
The lack of adequate care structures and the fact that they are not available at a low cost often hampers the equal participation of men and women in the labour market and the equal sharing of responsibilities in the context of family life.
The 18-month programme of the three Presidencies (document 17079/06, December 2006) states that the Portuguese Presidency will focus on boosting the availability of high-quality childcare facilities on the basis of the decision by the Barcelona Council (2002), as well as care structures for other dependents.
What action will the Council take to ensure the adequacy and quality of care services?
How might proposals aimed at meeting the needs as regards reconciling family and working life through the provision of care facilities for children and other dependents boost employment and lead to the recognition of atypical work and the consolidation of skills acquired through experience, possibly by means of additional theory-based training?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) The honourable Member has raised a highly pertinent question in the context of the changes under way in the European labour market in the light of the Lisbon Strategy.
With regard to the honourable Member's specific question on the action planned by the Council and the possible impact of the proposals in this sector, obviously the Council can only act through legislative channels based on a Commission proposal. This is what is stipulated in the Treaties.
At this moment no legislative proposals relating to childcare are being analysed. Adequate, high-quality provision of childcare services still falls to the Member States. Although the Barcelona objectives have been implemented throughout the EU, the Council reiterated them in the European Pact for Gender Equality adopted in March 2006, when, the Council decided that the availability of high-quality childcare structures should be increased, commensurate with the internal objectives of each Member State.
We would also point out that the Council moreover reiterated its commitment regarding family-orientated policies, including childcare, in the conclusions adopted on 30 May 2007 on the importance of family-orientated policies in Europe and the creation of an Alliance for Families.
The honourable Member also mentioned the 18-month programme covering the German, Portuguese and Slovenian presidencies establishing that one of the major goals of the three Presidencies is to strengthen the European social model, which is an integral part of the Lisbon Strategy. The programme also establishes that, in this particular context, the emphasis will be on a better balance between work, family and personal life, adequate childcare infrastructure, and support for the elderly and the disabled.
In its effort to achieve this goal, the Portuguese Presidency is also organising a conference on the balance between work, personal life and the family: fresh challenges for the social partners and public policies. The conference will be held in Lisbon on 12 and 13 July 2007, beginning, therefore, tomorrow.
Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou
(EL) I too welcome the new Presidency and thank the representative of the Portuguese Presidency for his reply.
Of course the 12 and 13 July are tomorrow and the next day. In order to revive everyone's interest, I should like to ask if measures can be designed within the framework of qualifications, an issue on which we have other legislative decisions by the Council and Parliament.
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) I thank the honourable Member for her kind words in wishing success for the Portuguese Presidency. When reading the list of priorities for the Portuguese Presidency, you will have noticed the attention and importance which we have attached to social issues and, specifically, to those concerning the relationship between work and the family.
Regarding the specific question you have just raised, the Council is obviously open to studying and considering all proposals and the Commission naturally has an important role to play in this matter. As soon as the Commission proposes complementary or other measures in this field, the Council will obviously be ready to discuss and debate them. Since the Portuguese Presidency underlines the importance of the social policy and European social model within the scope of its programme, it is naturally particularly keen to consider any proposals that may be submitted.
President

Subject: Failure to agree framework decisions on procedural rights
Is the Council proud of having been unable to agree to a measure on legal rights for suspects and defendants throughout the European Union (the proposed Framework Decision on procedural rights in criminal proceedings)? What signal does it send to the EU's partners that the 27 Member States are unable to agree on safeguards to ensure fair treatment and trial, in a measure conceived as an essential and promised accompaniment to the European Arrest Warrant? How does this strengthen the EU's voice supporting human rights in the world? What action will the Portuguese Presidency take to revive this much needed instrument?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) The Council is disappointed that an agreement could not be reached on this issue in the session held in Luxemburg on 12 and 13 June, despite the analysis and adoption of this framework decision having been a priority not only for the German Presidency but also for the preceding presidencies since the presentation of the Commission proposal to the Council on 28 April 2004.
In this context, I would like to remind the honourable Member that on 1 and 2 June 2006 the Council agreed the principles that should govern subsequent work on this proposal. It was concluded that the scope of the proposed framework decision would be limited to the right to information, the right to legal assistance, the right to free legal assistance, the right to an interpreter and the right to translation of the procedural documents. At its session of 15 and 16 June 2006, the Council called for negotiations on the procedural rights in criminal proceedings to be concluded. At its session of 19 April 2007, the Council concluded that work on this question should continue, with a view to obtaining a consensus on the scope of the instrument at the June European Council. The question to be resolved was whether the Union had competence to legislate on purely national cases or whether the legislation - and I would point out that at least 21 Member States shared this opinion - should be applied solely to cross-border cases.
I should emphasise that the German Presidency in particular undertook every effort to obtain a consensus on this matter, unfortunately without success. In turn, the Portuguese Presidency will attempt to find a way forward. At this moment we are analysing the content of the dossier resulting from the Council debates of 12 and 13 June 2007.
Sarah Ludford
In some Member States the delivery of the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights is poor, so we need a measure spelling out rights to information, legal aid, interpretation and so on. Indeed, the Council of Europe has welcomed the framework decision, completely undermining claims - by, for example, the UK - that it would undermine the ECHR. I welcome what the Presidency has said.
President-in-Office, do you think that expected changes in the Treaty to move to QMV and codecision will help? Will you, perhaps, try to find a way through for enhanced cooperation? Will you try to promote something like a Prüm Treaty for rights - perhaps a Member State initiative? How will you make sure, in practice, that we get this absolutely vital measure to match the European arrest warrant and other measures which have made prosecution easier, so that our citizens know that their rights are actually important in the EU?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
It is, I believe, still a little early to reply fully to all the questions you have raised. It was a single question, but one that contained a number of different sections and opened up various possibilities. I have pointed out that our Presidency began only a few days ago. We are currently analysing the content of the dossiers to see how we can make headway on this issue.
You spoke, for example, of facilitating the co-decision procedure by means of qualified majority voting, a more frequent application of qualified majority. As far as I am aware, this possibility is not the one currently to be found in the Treaties, but it should be found in the so-called 'Reform Treaty', which is not yet even at the negotiation stage in the Intergovernmental Conference. What I can assure the honourable Member is, as you will have realised from my speech, that we are attaching great importance and urgency to this issue. In the light of the entire process thus far, and given the whole history of this issue, we shall be striving to find the solution most deserving of the support of all the Member States.
President
As the author is not present, Question No 4 lapses.
Subject: Strengthened Mediterranean cooperation
What is the Council Presidency's view on the proposal by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, for stronger Mediterranean cooperation? What measures is the Council planning to prevent a breakdown of the Barcelona Process?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Obviously, the Presidency welcomes any initiative or proposal concerning relations between the European Union and the Mediterranean countries aimed at reinforcing Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. This region has always been, and will continue to be, at the top the EU's agenda.
At this moment, we do not have at our disposal specific details of the ideas proposed by the French President on this matter, so I am not in a position to comment on them for the time being.
Bernd Posselt
(DE) I have two short supplementary questions. One: how do you envisage improving and increasing cooperation with North Africa? It is not satisfactory at present. Two: would you consider creating a Mediterranean Community as an alternative to Turkey becoming a full member of the EU?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) You will also have seen in our document outlining the Portuguese Presidency's priorities the strengthening of the relationship between the European Union and the Mediterranean, and our intention, within the scope of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, is to hold a number of high level ministerial meetings on a variety of matters. This is, in fact, an important area to which the Portuguese Presidency will give its full attention, as the Portuguese Prime Minister also said very clearly here today during the debate on the Portuguese Presidency's priorities.
With regard to the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation or union, that is to say, the proposal put forward by the French President, I repeat what I have already said: that we have the need and desire to obtain a clearer view of what concrete proposals will effectively be submitted so that we can then make a comprehensive overview of the entire framework of relations between the European Union and the Mediterranean.
President
Question No 6 will not be answered, given that the issue with which it deals is already on today's agenda.
As they deal with the same subject, the following questions will be taken together:
Subject: EU imports of Brazilian beef
There is an increasing body of evidence showing that the standards and controls in place in the Brazilian beef sector are deeply flawed, open to widespread abuse and nowhere near as stringent as equivalent rules applicable to European farmers - yet the EU continues to accept imports of Brazilian beef.
In this context, does the Council intend to act to protect Europe's beef producers and consumers, and to ensure that producers and consumers can be confident that all beef on the European market adheres to the same high standards?
Subject: Separate EU-Brazil deal on the beef sector
Can the European Council make a statement as to whether it intends to pursue an individual deal between the EU and Brazil concerning Brazilian beef imports into the EU if the WTO negotiations fail to make progress in the coming months? For such a deal between Brazil and the EU to go ahead, does the European Council have to give Commissioner Mandelson the mandate to conclude such an arrangement, or does Commissioner Mandelson already have this power to conclude such a deal under his negotiating terms of reference
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Mr President, I would ask the honourable Members to consult the German Presidency's answer to oral questionof 20 June 2007, in other words not long ago.
The Council would first like to emphasise that with regard to the new legislative proposals it is naturally the Commission's responsibility to exercise its right of initiative. With regard to the specific question of beef imports, we must take account of the fact that, in accordance with Community law, the Commission is competent to manage the safeguard clause. Consequently, the Council has no direct influence on the decisions taken by the Commission in this area.
Mairead McGuinness
The response was brief, but the question is a very serious one and it will not go away. What is being looked at here is the imbalance in standards between Brazil and Europe; what we demand of our producers and what our consumers expect, and what is delivered in terms of beef brought into the EU from Brazil.
I note in your priorities, President-in-Office, that you have a special relationship with Brazil and are looking at a specific political dialogue with that country. I stress that we are looking at a ban on such imports and I think that, in terms of consumer safety and protection, that is the very least we should be looking at.
On the issue of the trade deal, I would ask that you address that particular question and the likelihood of same.
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Very briefly, Mr President, I wish to thank you for your kind words wishing the Portuguese presidency success and to tell the Chamber that, on the initiative of this Presidency, the first EU-Brazil summit was recently held in Lisbon. I believe this summit will very much set the tone for future relations between the EU and Brazil, which we would naturally like to see taken to a new level. The strategic dialogue that we will be establishing with Brazil is set to be all-encompassing - covering issues ranging from economics and trade to energy and climate change. I believe that these and other questions will continue to have their place. This is what I wanted to say to the honourable Member.
President
Questions Nos 9 and 10 will not be called as the issue with which they deal is already on today's agenda.
Questions Nos 11 to 13 have been withdrawn.
Questions Nos 14 to 18 lapse, as the authors are not present.
Subject: Kurdish mayor dismissed for providing multilingual municipal services
On 14 June 2007 the Turkish Council of State decided to dismiss the Kurdish mayor, Abdullah Demirbas, and dissolve the municipal council of the southern district of the city of Dyarbakir, for providing official administrative services in Turkish, Kurdish, English and Syrian. According to a survey of 2006, Kurdish speakers make up 72% of the population of the administrative district.
Everyone has the right to use his or her mother tongue. By this act, Turkey is breaching the cultural and language rights and freedom of expression of minorities, respect for which is a fundamental condition for EU membership.
Will the Council take steps in response to this serious breach of rights? Will it take up this case in the dialogue with the Turkish authorities, with the aim of reinstating the mayor and municipal council and ensuring peaceful coexistence for all in Turkey?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Thanks to the efficiency of all those who work with me, it was easy to find Question 19, to which you referred, and I am delighted to give you an answer.
It is our understanding that Turkey's approach to minority rights continues to be restrictive. Where cultural rights are concerned, legislative amendments have been introduced, as you are aware, with a view to allowing education and broadcasting in languages other than Turkish. However, the public education system maintains restrictions with regard to the learning of these languages. Furthermore, general restrictions remain on the use of languages other than Turkish both in political life and in access to public services.
Clearly, new and significant efforts need to be made by Turkey in this area. Turkey must guarantee cultural diversity and promote respect and protection for minorities under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights and the principles established in the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, in accordance with the best practices of the Member States.
Let there be no doubt that the EU attaches great importance to this matter as an integral part of the ongoing reform process in Turkey, and will continue to closely monitor and evaluate the progress made in the field.
Luisa Morgantini
(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the reply is, in principle, highly correct, even though I had also asked whether there was an intention to tackle this issue with specific action.
I gave the specific example of a Kurdish mayor dismissed for having provided municipal language services in his language, in an area in which 72% of the population is Kurdish. I therefore wanted to ask whether the Council intends to take any steps to tackle this issue during the dialogue by asking, for example, for the mayor to be reinstated, because in the meantime it is even illegal to write the names of the villages in Kurdish and the office of the governor of Dyarbakir, for example, yesterday opposed and practically dismissed the municipal council, which wanted the names of the streets to be written in both Kurdish and Turkish.
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Mr President, I should very briefly like to say to the honourable Member that all questions concerning dialogue on issues such as human rights and respect for minoritiesare subject to very close and thorough monitoring by the EU. That applies to this case and others. Please rest assured that we shall be doing this.
Bernd Posselt
(DE) I wanted to ask another question. Turkey is always announcing legislative amendments, but never passes the laws, and the situation is getting worse. So I would like to ask: do you think that the law on language that you mentioned and the freedom of religious expression legislation that we cited will actually go through this year? What will the Council do if they are not passed this year?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) All I can say to the honourable Member is that it is my hope and desire that this will effectively be the case. In fact, the national authorities in Turkey are entitled to adopt whatever legislation they wish. The Council has no means, as you can imagine, of obliging Turkey to adopt any legislation. Naturally, the Council can make its wishes known on any given matter, and express its satisfaction. This is naturally what we have been doing, as you are aware, in the context of the negotiating process for Turkey's accession to the EU. Obviously, these issues also have ramifications for this negotiation process.
President

Subject: Energy security for the EU over the next 20 years
Traditional energy supplies are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and energy sources are starting to be used as a means of applying political pressure.
What degree of energy security does the Council wish to achieve for the EU? Has an operational action programme been established with a view to ensuring energy security over the next 20 years?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Mr President, I would like to say that security of supply is one of the three objectives of the Community's energy policy; the purpose of this policy is the highest possible degree of energy security. However, as with other Community policies, energy policy must also take other factors into account, such as costs, internal market regulations, and, most importantly, the EU's overall objectives on climate change. Energy security is not an objective and quantifiable goal to which a numerical value can be affixed. It must be looked upon as a dynamic process depending on EU interaction with third-party countries and on EU citizens' preferences with regard to the energy mix and technological development.
In reply, then, to the first question, the Council has not set an objective for energy security, as mentioned by the honourable Member, nor, to the best of the Council's knowledge, is any legislative proposal of this nature being prepared by the Commission. The Presidency of the Council would also like to stress that one of the main objectives of the development and implementation of the Community's internal and external energy policy over the forthcoming decades is to guarantee and improve security of supply in the EU. This was made clear once again, as you know, in the conclusions of the European Council of 8 and 9 March 2007, conclusions that may almost be considered historic in this respect.
The main elements of the Community's energy policy that contribute directly or indirectly to increased security of supply, and that will continue to be the main driving force for increased security of supply in the EU over the next 20 years, as the honourable Member mentions, are, firstly, diversification, with regard to both the sources and suppliers of energy; secondly, an increase in the use of renewable energies; thirdly, greater energy efficiency; and, fourthly, the strengthening of the Community's energy networks.
In addition to these major objectives and political guidelines, the Council Action Plan, adopted in March, sets out a number of other measures, such as a study of gas storage facilities, the development of effective crisis-response mechanisms, and the creation of an Energy Observatory, which will result in added security of supply for the EU as a whole and for each of the Member States.
Leopold Józef Rutowicz
(PL) I would like to thank you above all for your very detailed answer, but I would like to ask if there is any investment programme, as energy investments need to be made over many years and are very costly. Is such a programme envisaged?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Mr President, what we have in the pipeline is exactly what I have stated, which is the result of the March European Council.
Naturally, it is now the Council's responsibility, based upon EU proposals, actually to put into practice what were above all strategic decisions, political decisions, guideline decisions. The honourable Member should be in no doubt that the urgency and importance of energy issues mean that this Presidency, and other future presidencies, will be giving them absolute priority in the Union's internal and external agendas. This is an issue that the European institutions will naturally have to approach in comprehensive, in-depth manner, certainly over the coming years, and on this point there is, I repeat, no doubt whatsoever.
President
Questions nos 21 to 24 lapse as the authors are not present.
Subject: Protocol negotiated by Britain on the Charter of Fundamental Rights
In the light of the recent protocol negotiated by Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and given that two delegations have reserved the right to sign up to the British protocol, does the Council consider that the rights of citizens in these three Member States will in any way be different to those of citizens in the other Member States, and if so could it outline the differences?
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) Mr President, I would like to say that it is not the Council's responsibility, nor that of the President-in-Office, to comment on the Intergovernmental Conference mandate resulting from the European Council negotiations in June, in particular the matter of the Charter.
However, on this matter, I can refer to the Intergovernmental Conference mandate, agreed by all the Member States. Annexe 1 to Mandate 5, footnote 19, is reproduced in the Protocol; in other words, the effects of the Protocol are defined in the Protocol itself.
Marian Harkin
First of all, I want to thank the Portuguese Presidency for its brief answer and I want to wish it well in its term. I look forward to a good working relationship.
But I suppose, while you say that the Council cannot answer this question, at the same time, as regards the UK and Poland and indeed Ireland, the UK had some reason to look for a derogation, and Poland and Ireland reserved their right to do the same.
Either the Charter of Fundamental Rights has some substance and meaning or it has not. Either it is window-dressing or it has real clout. I am very concerned as an Irish MEP that the rights of citizens in my country may be less than the rights of citizens in other EU states if my country does not sign up to that Charter.
Manuel Lobo Antunes
President-in-Office of the Council. (PT) I would like to add that the Portuguese Presidency received a mandate from the Council, a mandate agreed upon by all 27 Member States. It is the Portuguese Presidency's responsibility during its term in office, to transform this mandate into the new Reform Treaty, which we hope to do speedily as the European Union needs this new Reform Treaty.
President
That concludes Question Time.
(The session was suspended at 9.40 pm and resumed at 10 pm)


3. Iran: execution of juvenile offenders
President
The next item is the debate on six motions for a resolution on Iran.
Mikel Irujo Amezaga
author. - (ES) Mr President, the human rights situation in Iran has deteriorated dramatically since 2005.
The Iranian judiciary has the sad record of imposing the second highest number of executions per capita in the world. Only China carries out more executions than Iran.
As mentioned in the resolution, two important agreements, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ban the death penalty as punishment for crimes committed when the perpetrator is under 18. The most serious aspect is that Teheran has ratified both agreements. Although ratification is positive, the country does not respect these agreements.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drugs trafficking are punishable by death in Iran. Most of the children were sentenced for murder, but many sentences seem to be based on unreliable confessions, obtained by torture and during interrogations at which the detained were denied the right of access to a lawyer.
The courts routinely ignore evidence presented by defendants showing that the accused acted in self-defence.
The execution of children in Iran will be one of the issues included in the report to the General Assembly by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in September.
We therefore ask Iran to stop these executions once and for all, including those of at least 85 people who are sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were children.
I did not want to finish without saying I consider that, this week, Parliament and the European Union have lost a certain moral credibility to defend the rights of children, when yesterday this Chamber approved a shameful directive that allows the imprisonment of children for committing the crime of coming to Europe without papers.
Marios Matsakis
author. - Mr President, the brutal activities of the theocratic Iranian regime against its own people are well known and have been the subject of previous resolutions by this Parliament.
This regime is known to commit - in the name of God, they claim - systematic and despicable crimes against innocent civilians. Resistance in Iran is extremely difficult and fraught with the risk of death. Outside the country Iranian civilians are struggling to fight for a democratic change in their country.
Such people include those belonging to the entirely non-violent PMOI organisation. Yet the Commission had put this organisation on the terrorist list and until recently was refusing to correct this mistake, even after relevant EU court rulings. I ask the Commissioner: why was this Iranian resistance organisation put on the terrorist list in the first place? Is it because some EU Member State or States having lucrative trade contracts or relations with Iran wanted to please the regime in Tehran?
Marcin Libicki
author. - (PL) Mr President, when we are discussing issues of breaches of human rights in the world, we have to make certain distinctions, particularly between situations where we are considering unstable regimes, civil wars, crimes committed in situations of absolute chaos and situations like the one in Iran, where the state is relatively stable, where there is no civil war, where there are elections from time to time, but where the state uses criminal methods such as executions of children. This is a completely different situation from the issues we have been discussing, like the matters debated today with regard to Somalia or Burma. In these situations it is not an issue of some internal disorder, it is an issue of a different civilisation. It reminds us of Huntington's book 'The Clash of Civilisations', or of the books of the great historian and philosopher Feliks Koneczny, who spoke of fundamental differences in civilisations. If we wish to resolve these problems, then we must think how we can influence these regimes to change their mentality.
Laima Liucija Andrikienė
Stop killing children - that is the most important thing, the position the European Parliament is making clear in its resolution. This is our message to the new Majlis of Iran, who should understand their duty - to reform the Iranian penal code without delay to bring it into line with the international obligations undertaken by this country and the international rule of law.
In my opinion, executions of underage children or those who committed crimes while underage are totally unacceptable. The fact that the policy pursued by the Iranian Government is in conflict with international law was recently highlighted by the UN High Commissioner.
The European Parliament has more than once expressed its firm belief and position: it is against the death penalty and in favour of a worldwide death-penalty moratorium. We are talking about men, women, children, teenagers and minorities here, so I would like to finish by calling on the Iranian Government to prevent the execution of those teenagers who have already received the death penalty, as it is inhumane.
Věra Flasarová
author. - (CS) Ladies and gentlemen, I do not share the view of the Bush Administration that Iran represents a threat to world safety and therefore it is necessary to have an arms race. I am also against forcing our values and our lifestyle on different cultures for one reason alone, namely opening the door to supra-national capital leading to the sources of raw materials on this planet and so to latter-day colonialism. However, I opposed the barbaric acts that are still being carried out although the reasons for doing so have long gone. Moreover, there is no justification in Iranian culture for the barbaric acts of executions of juvenile offenders and even political opponents committed by the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iranian regime. In the past, this country used to carry out the death penalty only in exceptional cases and public executions took place only as a punishment for mass murders or child murders. Under the current Iranian Government, however, hundreds of executions take place each year, and many of them involve juveniles, such as 17-year old Mohammad Hassanzadeh, who was executed on 10 June. Recently I saw photographs of public executions in Iran. Believe me, they are among the worst things I have seen in my life.
My Group, the GUE/NGL Group, is using the European Parliament to call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to cease executions with immediate effect, especially the executions of people who committed a criminal offence when they were juveniles. Under Mr Ahmadinejad, Iran has long been sending not just mass murderers to the gallows but also people who have committed acts that in developed countries receive much lighter punishments or are not even considered to be against the law. The country must review its understanding of the law and modify it to ensure that human life is respected. Until this happens, Iran will stay on the margins of the civilised world.
Paulo Casaca
author. - (PT) Mr President, the systematic violation of human rights in Iran brings us together here once again. The fundamental issue is the execution of juveniles for alleged crimes.
Can I please clarify that it is often a case of relations between juveniles of the same sex, for example, which are not even a crime, and which lead to death sentences and public executions, as has already been seen in films recording the barbarity of the regime.
This barbarity is not confined to juveniles, however, and is not confined to execution by stoning, to the records of the execution. It also involves the external dimension of terrorism.
We must therefore ask the European institutions once again why they continue to encourage the terrorist regime in Tehran to classify the opposition Iranian People's Mujahedin as terrorists, as our fellow member Mr Matsakis has stressed.
Why is it that instead of condemning terrorism and human rights violations, they use economic and trade packages to encourage Tehran to condemn the victims of terrorism? This is completely immoral and indefensible and is a policy that will inevitably lead us to a confrontation, to war, if we do not challenge it quickly.
And for these reasons I would like to call upon the Commission and the Council to change their policy and to comply with the courts, and not to reward terrorism in this way.
Tadeusz Zwiefka
on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. - (PL) Mr President, I can understand, although I absolutely do not accept it, that there are legal systems in the world that use the death penalty. However, I cannot imagine how even the supporters of the death penalty, particularly in our cultural circles, can entertain the possibility of imposing this penalty, and then carrying it out, on children and teenagers. But this is exactly the situation in Iran. According to the latest report from Amnesty International more than one hundred teenagers are currently waiting to be executed, and this number does not include everyone, as some of the sentences do not get recorded.
It is right that we should call on the political and judicial authorities in Iran to introduce a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty. However, we must also ask ourselves how the international community should be judged, how we ourselves should be judged, since we are unable to ensure that signatories to international agreements comply with the clauses contained in those agreements, at the expense of teenagers who are sentenced to death. There is just one subtext, which is the economic subtext and this, unfortunately, outweigh humanitarian considerations.
Marianne Mikko
on behalf of the PSE Group. - (ET) Ladies and gentlemen, the world does not tolerate the death penalty, but Iran is taking its own course. The situation in that country is grim. The Iranian authorities are not selective about who is to be executed; the death penalty is applied even to young people.
As a country which has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is running into sharp conflict with the world. The application of the death penalty is in complete contravention of human rights. Such a mode of punishment is inhuman. The execution of at least thirty minors in Iran up to the present is supremely unjust.
I would like to hope that the eighty-five minors currently awaiting the death penalty will be saved by the world - including us - from their cruel fate.
Let us hope that the newly elected parliament will usher in new winds of humanity. Mediaeval methods of execution should be consigned to history. Legislation should be introduced in Iran that is consistent with international law. It is high time that Iran moved into the 21st century. I fully support the resolution.
Janusz Onyszkiewicz
on behalf of the ALDE Group. - (PL) Mr President, we are debating this matter today because we have been moved by the threat to carry out the death penalty on four young people under 18 years of age. This is not the first such decision from the Iranian justice system. Fortunately Iran is one of just a few countries that sentence teenagers to death and, what is worse, actually carry out these sentences. In addition, over the past three years, Iranian sentences have constituted over two thirds of all sentences of this type in the world.
It is outrageous that Iran should breach international conventions, to which it is a signatory, and which categorically prohibit such measures, in such a blatant manner. This raises a question of a much more general nature: does the international community have any mechanisms and instruments to deal with such countries? In other words, is it possible for breaches of undertakings made voluntarily by a given country to result in some tangible and meaningful sanctions?
This brings two things to mind. The first is the need to reconsider the much-used concept of rule of law. Convictions of teenagers for homosexual behaviour may be in accordance with the law in force in Iran, but we cannot, of course, agree with rule of law understood in this way.
The second issue is that if we demand that others should comply with their undertakings as well as with reasonable laws that comply with basic freedoms, then we should respect these laws ourselves. In this context we cannot but remember our own dilatoriness, not to use any stronger words, when it comes to fulfilling the final court judgment and removing the Iranian mujahedin from the list of terrorist organisations.
Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański
on behalf of the UEN Group. - (PL) Mr President, the most treasured possession that any person has is their life. Therefore, no one should deprive them of that possession for any reason. What is particularly outrageous is the use of beatings and torture on young people to force them to make confessions that are needed to justify death sentences. Iran is certainly one of the countries where many death sentences are carried out, including on young people. Recent information indicates that at least 85 underage criminals are awaiting execution in that country.
It is therefore high time that Iran should stop carrying out these procedures and should adopt the legal standards accepted by other countries. Young people should be educated, not killed.
Tunne Kelam
Mr President, just nine days ago an Iranian youth, Mohammed Hassanzadeh, was executed, having not reached the age of 18. There are also others who are waiting on death row, sentenced for alleged crimes they committed when they were still minors.
I think this is an occasion to remind public opinion that Tehran has become the world leader for the number of executions of juvenile offenders. We therefore urge in the strongest terms the Iranian regime to stop these executions.
However - and I address my remarks to the Commissioner - there are more practical things we can do. We can finally free the hands of the Iranian democratic opposition, the National Council of Resistance, to get rid of this inhuman dictatorship once and for all.
Philip Bushill-Matthews
Mr President, Mr Matsakis opened the debate wondering if there was one country responsible for encouraging the whole of the EU to ban the PMOI. I can answer his question: it was the UK. The reason the UK Government did this is because the Government of Iran asked it to.
I regret to say that in my country we have a government that will not allow its own people a vote on the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and will also insist that the voice of the people of Iran cannot be heard anywhere throughout Europe.
I call upon the UK Government, when they vote in Westminster next week, to ensure that they remove the ban in accordance with the EU court ruling. For too long the UK Government has been part of the problem. It needs to become part of the solution.
Peter Skinner
Mr President, this is a very serious issue. Iran is executing young men and women as a means of social control. It is incredible in an age of modern civilisation that young girls and boys are executed, stoned to death or hanged from industrial cranes.
We ask and we call for the international community do more, but instead of actually standing together with the international community we hear cries against parts of the international community. We hear condemnation against the USA, for example; we hear differences in this House as to how we will handle it. We will never solve this crisis until we stand as one against this medieval crisis that is occurring in this country. It is something that we must do ourselves.
Marios Matsakis
Mr President, I only wanted to take the floor for the second time in order to bring to the attention of my colleagues a book which discusses human rights abuses in Iran in 2007. It was brought to my attention just a little while ago and it contains many shocking references, one of which is about a girl waiting to be hanged named Ameneh Salam from a village in Naqadeh whose crime is that she became pregnant without being married. Incidentally the man who made her pregnant was sentenced to 99 lashes.
Ewa Tomaszewska
(PL) Mr President, in Iran at least 430 death penalties have been carried out on young people since 1990. The death penalty for children is a dishonour for adults. Every crime perpetrated by a teenager is the result of an educational failure by adults. Transferring the responsibility for one's own failings or incompetence onto a teenager, carrying out inhumane sentences, including the death penalty, on children, that truly is a crime. In Iran the death penalty is even carried out on ten year olds. Death penalties for teenagers are contrary to the international obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian authorities should immediately stop murdering young people in the name of an inhumane law.
Zbigniew Zaleski
(PL) Mr President, one would have thought that, following the publication of Robert Hughes' 'Fatal Shore', a book in which he described the transportation by the British Crown, meaning the courts, of small children together with their parents to Australia, that this would never happen again. In fact, a century has passed, or perhaps one and a half centuries, and the same thing is happening in Iran, an Islamic country, where, from one side, it can be seen that attention is paid to the family. What is happening there is a barbarism more extreme than one's worse imaginings.
If we do not act to defend these children, if we do not boycott the regime, if we do not condemn it as much as possible throughout the world, then we shall be judged to have been complicit, that we kept quiet and did not try to defend human life.
Michael Cashman
Mr President, I condemn the human rights abuses that occur daily in Iran. I believe also that we should lift the ban on the People's Mujahedin, and we should do that as soon as possible.
I want to speak out against the death penalty being used against juveniles. I will never forget the picture of two boys who were publicly hung by the neck until they were dead. Their crime was that they were young homosexuals who dared to love one another. Such inhumanity should be condemned universally. That is why, Commissioner, we need a radical change in our policy towards Iran. We cannot sit back and wait: there is no more time!
Avril Doyle
Mr President, I too would like to condemn the ongoing human rights abuses in Iran today, and I would also like, once the British have their vote next week, the Council - I think it will be under the French presidency - to remove, once and for all, the PMOI from the terrorist list.
Could I say, in fact - even though the UK were responsible having the PMOI in the first place on the list - thank goodness for the common law justice system and the system of the British courts, which at least ensured independent, free, objective justice and, indeed, the recommendation that injustice had been done to the PMOI in the first place by having them on the terrorist list, and recommending their removal.
I urge the French presidency - as I understand, it will be in their court - to follow through and remove them immediately. We cannot stand over the continuing abuse of human rights and the use of the death penalty at all, particularly where young men and young women and juveniles are concerned.
Charlie McCreevy
Member of the Commission. - Mr President, my colleague Benita Ferrero-Waldner is unfortunately not here today, so on her behalf I thank you for the opportunity to address the issue of juvenile executions in Iran.
The Commission shares your deep concern about this harrowing question. While, as you know, the Commission lacks a representation in Tehran, it follows the human rights situation very closely and acts in close concertation with the EU Member States' embassies represented there. It is important to note that the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Commission have taken a coherent and consistent line. The seriousness of our concerns has been clearly stated through the three statements published by the EU Presidency over the past two weeks: on 4 and 10 June, over the cases of Mr Fadaei, Mr Shojaee and Mr Jazee, all facing imminent executions for crimes committed when they were minors; and on 13 June, on the execution of Mohammad Hassanzadeh.
The Commission fully supports the principle and the content of these statements: there can be no justification for the use of the death penalty by the Iranian authorities in the case of juvenile offenders. This explicitly runs counter to the legally binding provisions of international law, which Iran has ratified, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The fact that we have had to issue so many statements at such a rapid pace obviously reflects the growing number of executions in Iran, including of minors. The moratorium decreed by Iran's Chief Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, on youth executions is blatantly violated by his own judges.
But, unfortunately, the tone and the frequency of our statements on Iran also reflect the fact that our dialogue and démarches on human rights in general and on the issue of juvenile executions in particular have not been effective. The Iranian authorities increasingly turn a deaf ear to our calls for compliance with international human rights law and we have therefore no choice but to resort to the so-called 'megaphone diplomacy' via public statements that Tehran claims to abhor and reject.
Iran must face up to its own responsibilities. For its part, following the execution of Mr Hassanzadeh, the Commission has explicitly told the Iranian authorities that such an act could only cast a shadow over's Iran's international reputation and our relationship. Without a concrete improvement of the human rights situation, our common objective of developing substantively the relationship between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran is hindered.
I trust that the European Parliament and all EU partners will agree to this line and act accordingly. Therefore, I solemnly reiterate our call to the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to abide by the international conventions to which it is party and spare the life of all minors still on death row.
President
The debate is closed.
The vote will take place at the end of the debates.


Statements by the President
President
It was with great satisfaction that I received the news concerning the release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese opposition. Mrs Suu Kyi was one of the first winners of the Sakharov Prize, awarded by the European Parliament since 1988. However, she was unable to collect it in person 20 years ago. I would like to inform you that I have already sent Mrs Suu Kyi an invitation to visit the European Parliament and to address one of our plenary sessions.
25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as instituted by the UN 11 years ago. Every day, all over the world, many women are victims of rape, humiliation and domestic violence. A particular atrocity practised in many areas of the world is the circumcision of young women. It is estimated that 8 000 girls fall victim to this every day. To show solidarity with the campaign to stop this barbaric ritual, I would encourage you all to wear a rose petal today to symbolise our opposition to this practice. I would also like to stress that the European Parliament has continued in its efforts to appeal for a complete stop to physical and mental violence against women for many years.