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RE: European parliament reported resolution




One possible explanation. I think the european parliament is organised by
parties rather than by country. So if there was a majority within each
party then it could have been adopted "unanimously" even though individual
MEPs objected. Since the left-wingers are in a majority in the EP it
would not have been hard to outvote British objections. Not sure about
this though - just a guess!

best,
Abi


> Hi
> 
> I'm a bit confused. I was under the impression that Britain was part of the
> European parliament. Clearly, I'm wrong or the resolution could not have
> been adopted unanimously. Please enlighten me.
> 
> Regards,
> Nathan
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
> [mailto:soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk]On Behalf Of Hathal
> Alqassab
> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 3:10 AM
> To: CASI Discussion Group
> Subject: European parliament reported resolution
> 
> 
> Friends,
> 
> Wednesday's (26/04/2000) issue of the Arabic London-based Azzaman newspaper
> reported the following about a resolution taken by the European parliament
> on Monday. I have searched the news agencies but there was no mention of it
> so I had to translate Azzaman's report from Arabic myself. Also, it seems
> the European parliament site does not publish its resolutions immediately.
> The last one published today was that of 14/04/2000.
> 
> I did my best, but hopefully we will have an official English version soon!
> The report must also be taken as Azzaman's interpretation of the resolution,
> and not as its original text. Some of the wording seems to resemble that
> used by Baghdad, not the European parliament! This comes as a surprise as
> Azzaman can be considered as an opposition newspaper.
> 
> If you can read Arabic you can download the (.pdf) file from Azzaman's site
> www.azzaman.com (page 1) or I can e-mail it to you.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Hathal
> 
> 
> Translation:
> 
> Azzaman, Wednesday 26/04/2000, page 1
> 
> European Parliament Objects to Military Operations against Iraq
> 
> Paris: The European parliament demanded, for the first time, an end to the
> economic embargo on the people of Iraq, and a stop to the military
> operations by the US and Britain against Iraqi military sites. The
> parliament adopted the resolution unanimously on Monday (24/04/00). It was
> proposed by the French parliamentarians the De Gaullian Philip Mur Leon and
> the Socialist Sami Nyeer (spelling?), and it called for the necessity of
> putting an end to the great suffering that inflicts more and more damage to
> the Iraqi people, and which is doomed to lead to a serious humanitarian
> crisis. It also called for a stoppage of the aerial bombardment operations
> which "do nothing but increase tension in the region." The resolution called
> for the intensification of efforts to urge governments to take more
> realistic measures to quicken the breakage of the economic embargo for which
> thousands of Iraqis pay a hefty price daily. It also emphasized the
> rejection of policies which aim to interfere in the interior affairs of
> sovereign nations. In the same time, it emphasized the importance of
> considering the United Nations as the body directly responsible for the
> implementation of UN resolutions and of granting it the independence in
> directing its policies in general.
> 
> Observers in the French capital think that the timing of issuing this
> resolution is directly related to some of the changes on the international
> scene. Western capitals seem to have had enough of American-British
> domination of everything that happens in the Middle East, and they may
> prefer to go through parliamentary councils to condemn that before proposing
> it on the 'official table' with all the diplomatic repercussions that may
> have.
> 
> End translation
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
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