předseda. − Dalším bodem je zpráva, kterou předkládá Graham Watson za Výbor pro zahraniční věci, s návrhem doporučení Evropského parlamentu Radě týkajícího se konzistentní politiky uplatňované vůči režimům, proti nimž zavedla EU omezující opatření týkající se osobních a komerčních zájmů vůdců těchto režimů v EU (2011/2187(INI)) (A7-0007/2012)

  Graham Watson, rapporteur. − Mr President, I would like to thank my shadow rapporteurs on this recommendation. It may bear my name, but it is the result of collective effort on a cross-party basis.

One of the most important tools we have in our foreign policy toolkit is that of the sanction or restrictive measure, and this report aims to make our current policies on restrictive measures coherent and consistent. It recommends that all external restrictive measures be matched by an equivalent approach towards the activities of authoritarian leaders when they come within the Union’s borders. By allowing them to act with impunity within our borders as we currently do, we undermine our foreign policy, and yet we currently allow them to shield their often dubiously-acquired gains within our banking systems. We offer them the incentive and the capacity to continue with corruption and the exploitation of their people and their resources.

The main focus of this report is to advocate a consistent approach to authoritarian leaders that is in tune with our values and visions. We recommend updating our policies to make them more proportionate, more targeted and more humane, and to use the new tools given us in the Lisbon Treaty to create a multi-instrument strategy to be coherent and effective. It seeks to prohibit them from holding financial and material assets within our borders, commits us to a more rigorous adherence of travel bans so that they cannot travel within our borders for non-humanitarian purposes, and asks Member States to prosecute those within the EU suspected of assisting them in circumventing sanctions policy.

Zahájení vystoupení na základě přihlášení se zvednutím ruky.

  Tarja Cronberg (Verts/ALE). - Mr President, I consider this report to be extremely timely, particularly given the restrictive measures recently adopted against Iran. The European Parliament should continuously maintain a high-level debate on the very idea of restrictive measures and their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in achieving the EU’s fundamental objectives of international stability, peace and democracy.

Firstly, the report recommends that the Council develop clear criteria for when restrictive measures are to be applied, and objectives for such measures. In the case of the embargo on Iran, this is exactly what we need.

Secondly, the report is very explicit about the prerequisite that sanctions should not harm the population. This also is important in the case of Iran. The last thing we need is for the Iranian people to consider the EU its enemy.

Finally, I would like to point out that a coherent policy within the EU’s borders is a necessity. I have heard today from a lecturer who contacted the Delegation for relations with Iran to say that he has had EUR 900 frozen by the Bank of Austria, while the Maltese Times has got in touch with me to say that Iran has EUR 2 billion invested in Malta which is not going to be frozen.

  João Ferreira (GUE/NGL). - Senhor Presidente, a imposição de sanções constitui uma decisão unilateral, uma decisão que anula o espaço que poderia e deveria ser usado para o diálogo, para a negociação, para a intermediação diplomática, uma decisão baseada na imposição da vontade dos mais fortes. É a razão da força mesmo que, como tantas vezes sucede, contra a força da razão. Associar à imposição de sanções a intromissão direta em assuntos internos de um país, tomando parte em conflitos, apoiando uma das partes em conflito contra outras, constitui um inaceitável ato de ingerência. São muitos e tristes os exemplos de interferência externa de potências que provocam mudanças no poder político de um país, a seu belo prazer, promovendo interlocutores dispostos a satisfazer as suas imperiais ambições.

A mudança no poder político de um país deve decorrer do exercício da vontade soberana do seu povo e não de imposições externas que cobrarão mais tarde essas mudanças com a exigência de satisfação dos seus interesses. O que se impõe é assim, e termino, Senhor Presidente, o respeito escrupuloso pelo direito internacional, pela Carta das Nações Unidas e pelos princípios nela contidos. Lamentavelmente não é esta a visão deste relatório.

  Eduard Kukan (PPE). - Mr President, in order to be successful in using restrictive measures, we need to enhance the consistency, transparency and credibility of their application. Coordinated action in the case of Iran or Syria shows that, if it is to be effective, all Member States should ensure they have the same policies and uniform sanctions towards these regimes. Restrictive measures, if used cautiously, should play an important role. We need to be careful to use the measures in such a way that they do not harm the general population or the development of civil society, which could help in the processes of change.

I think that the assets of representatives of regimes that have been frozen in the EU as a result of the sanctions should be streamed to the development of civil society in those countries. That would certainly be the most helpful thing.

  Miroslav Mikolášik (PPE). - Chcem sa pripojiť ku všetkým kolegom, ktorí sa vyjadrili k otázke jednotného postupu voči režimom, ktoré reštriktívnym spôsobom obmedzujú slobody svojich obyvateľov. Je dobré, aby sme v našej zahraničnej politike mali skutočne konzistentný, jednotný postup voči všetkým takýmto predstaviteľom režimov, aby si títo ľudia nemohli napríklad v bankách na pôde Európskej únie ukrývať svoje imanie a aby ich imanie mohlo byť v bankách v Európskej únii aj zmrazené, pokiaľ si to okolnosti vyžadujú. Takisto by nemali cestovať na pôdu Európskej únie, iba ak za účelom riešenia nejakej humanitárnej okolnosti. To by sa bralo pravdepodobne ako výnimka.

Musia teda existovať jasné kritériá, jednotné kritéria, ktoré budeme aplikovať. Určitým typickým príkladom by mohol byť Irán, kde už máme prijaté určité presné pravidlá.

(Konec vystoupení na základě přihlášení se zvednutím ruky.)

  Catherine Ashton, Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. − Mr President, it has been an evening of congratulations for those who are sitting in the presidential chair, so allow me to add mine – to you and also to Sir Graham Watson who has just been elected President of the ELDR Party. Good luck is all I will say to you. I know how you like to take on new positions.

The report is really important and I am grateful to you for the work you have done and also for the contributions that have been made to our thinking on how we deal with what we call restrictive measures guidelines. These are an important foreign policy tool that the European Union uses, and the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 January 2012 perhaps demonstrated the importance we attach to them.

The purpose of these measures is to bring about a change of policy or activity in a country, in a government, in entities or indeed in individuals. In that sense they are preventive instruments, which should allow us to respond swiftly to political challenges and development. It is essential that any sanctions taken should minimise the impact on the general population – they need to be targeted – so consistency in their application is important, as you have recommended in your report, Sir Graham, and that is clearly very welcome. They also, as you equally recognise, have to be tailored to the specific objectives of each restrictive measures regime.

The uniform and consistent interpretation and effective implementation of these measures is essential if we are to ensure that they are effective in achieving the desired political objective, and that is directly related, of course, to the adoption of similar measures by third countries.

We want the restrictive measures that we impose to be properly understood. We have to be actively engaged in communication about our sanctions, including with the country that we have targeted and with its population. These steps are never taken lightly and they are taken with a specific objective in mind. I want to be very clear here, using the example of Iran. The purpose of the sanctions on Iran is to persuade them to fulfil the obligations that they signed up to in signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow the inspectors to do their work and convince us of Iran’s desire to have only a civil nuclear power programme, if that is what they wish, but certainly not a nuclear weapons programme.

When countries and regimes fail in their objectives in terms of either their commitments internationally or, as we have seen in Syria, their ability to support their people – and when, indeed, they turn to violence against their people, we are obliged to act, both morally and, I believe, internationally because of the positions that we hold. However, the purpose of the sanctions is to achieve that change. That, I think, is really important. It is important that it be understood here, and that it be understood by the country and especially by the people. Whatever we do, we have to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, due process and the right to an effective remedy in full conformity with the jurisprudence of the European Union courts.

I wanted to make those points not only to clarify our policy but also because they reflect the outcome of the RELEX working group that has been updating our best practice on these measures; and the working group’s document was welcomed by the PSC in January. I believe they also echo the recommendations made in the report that you have put forward this evening.

I note, too, the concerns that you mentioned in your introduction, Sir Graham, in relation to individuals and commercial interests, particularly those of some leaders. You will know that during the Arab Spring we froze the assets of senior figures from the former Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan and Syrian regimes. Even where we have a successful democratic transition, the issue of assets misappropriated by former regimes remains. Those assets that have been frozen cannot simply be released; they have to be rightfully transferred to the new state, and that is very complex. I just wanted to inform honourable Members that we are ready to assist those states concerned. Indeed, the European Union, together with the World Bank, is planning a workshop in Tunisia bringing the relevant experts together to provide help and to support them in getting back the assets that rightly belong to the people of Tunisia.

I recognise the importance of the report in making sure that we are consistent and that we look to the ways in which we direct our sanctions or restrictive measures – ensuring not only that they are effective but also that they do not afford loopholes that may damage their credibility and, equally, being ready to lift them quickly when we are in a position to see that assets are returned to the people. That is an area of work that will be extremely important in the coming weeks and months, and I am very grateful to you for the report.

  předseda. − Vážená paní vysoká představitelko, dovolte, abych Vám poděkoval za Váš závěrečný komentář a zároveň za blahopřání, rovněž tak svým kolegům, velmi mne to potěšilo. Dovolte mi, abych také ocenil Vaši výdrž a vitalitu, protože tady čelíte otázkám zhruba od 17:00 a takto nepřetržitá práce, kdy člověk musí sledovat debatu, je jistě velmi náročná.

Tímto je bod uzavřen

Hlasování: 2. února 2012

Písemná prohlášení (článek 149)

  John Attard-Montalto (S&D), in writing. – There is no doubt that in normal circumstances a consistent policy is admirable. Indeed when restrictive measures are applied against regimes it should be understandable that a consistent policy should be applied to leaders of such regimes in the exercise of commercial and personal interests. On the other hand one must, first of all, discuss whether the restrictive measures against regimes themselves should be consistent. The level and type of restrictive measures against regimes do vary according to particular circumstances. Similarly targeted measures against leaders of such regimes do in fact vary. It is inevitable that a certain amount of flexibility exists given the diverse approaches which the EU adopts vis-à-vis not only regimes but also countries which have not adopted democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. The EU is still in transition. From commercial clout we are endeavouring to establish political presence. In times of transition one has to be realistic and allow flexibility.

  Olga Sehnalová (S&D), písemně. – Plně podporuji praktické výhody, které pro poškozeného evropského spotřebitele přináší forma kolektivního odškodnění oproti individuálnímu řešení právního sporu v EU. Jsem toho názoru, že členské státy by měly více podporovat hromadný přístup ke spravedlnosti, zavádět centra pro alternativní řešení sporů a podporovat nástroje výkonu jejich pravomocí. Považuji za důležité, aby byl vzhledem k současnému vzrůstajícímu množství sporů přeshraničního charakteru vytvořen také přeshraniční mechanismus a spotřebitel měl možnost obrátit se s žádostí na kterýkoli nejbližší subjekt na území Evropské unie. Toto opatření je zásadní například pro uplatnění odškodnění cestujících v letecké dopravě v případě krachu letecké společnosti. Systémy odškodnění, které jsou díky své povaze účinnější, méně nákladné a časově úspornější, jsou jedinečnou šancí pro poškozeného spotřebitele.