March 26, 2008 EU Parliament Backs
Dalai Lama,
Opposes Olympic Boycott
Brussels
European Parliament lawmakers Wednesday threw their weight behind
exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and urged China to begin
constructive talks on the issue of Tibetan autonomy.
But they stopped short of calling for a boycott of the opening
ceremony of the Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August,
arguing that this would not be an effective response.
"We declare our solidarity with the Dalai Lama, a figure who has
stood for peace, reconciliation and balance. We cannot allow a
situation in which the Dalai Lama is mentioned in the same breath as
terrorists," the president of the parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering,
said.
"We cannot allow the demonization of the Dalai Lama," he added to
applause from members of the parliament (MEPs).
Earlier Wednesday, MEPs from the Green group urged European leaders
to consider boycotting the Olympic Games' opening ceremony as a sign
of their concern at the ongoing violence in Tibet.
"We must be prepared to openly consider a boycott ... because the
conditions of freedom and democracy required to organise such events
go beyond the current case of China and its human rights situation,"
Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni, co- presidents of the group,
said in a statement.
But most MEPs who spoke in the debate stressed that a boycott would
not be the right response to the crisis.
"A boycott of the Olympics would be shooting yourself in the foot
(and) would do nothing to help the situation in Tibet," Martin
Schulz, leader of the parliament's socialist group, said.
That stance was echoed by Slovenia's Minister for European Affairs,
Janez Lenarcic, who spoke on behalf of the council of EU member
states, as Slovenia currently chairs the council.
"A boycott in the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue would not
be the right response. It would be a lost opportunity to promote
human rights," he said.
So far, of the EU's leaders only French President Nicolas Sarkozy
has suggested a possible boycott, either of the August 8 opening
ceremony or of the entire games.
Also Wednesday, the parliament's foreign-affairs committee heard
from the speaker of Tibet's parliament in exile, Karma Chopel, who
urged the EU to "awaken the conscience of the international
community."
In an extraordinary parliamentary session called in response to the
state crackdown on pro-independence demonstrations in Tibet, EU
officials were unanimous in their condemnation of the violence.
"One thing is clear: the number of those killed seems to run into
the hundreds... Violence is never acceptable," EU External Affairs
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
Many MEPs called on the Chinese authorities to lift a media blackout
on Tibet and give foreign observers access to the region, and to
those demonstrators who were arrested in the crackdown.
"We demand that the Chinese authorities put an end to violence and
intimidation, we demand that a peaceful dialogue be launched. We
consider the Dalai Lama a friend whose moral authority is
unquestionable," Jozsef Szayer of the conservative EPP group - the
largest in parliament - said.
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