MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
23.1.2008
pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Tobias Pflüger and Vittorio Agnoletto
on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
on Iran
B6‑0054/2008
European Parliament resolution on Iran
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on EU-Iran relations and human rights violations in Iran,
– having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. stressing the seriousness of the military and political dimension of the current conflict over the issue of Iran’s nuclear activities; alarmed by the very real possibility that a new war could, in the near future, devastate the Middle East and jeopardise global peace and stability,
B. welcoming the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, and particularly of its Director General, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, to reach a negotiated political solution to this conflict within the framework of the existing international treaties, which recognise, on the one hand, the right of every sovereign State to fund civilian nuclear energy and, on the other, require the exercise of effective IAEA controls to prevent any use for military purposes of enriched uranium and/or plutonium,
1. Calls for an intensification of efforts to find a comprehensive and equitable negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue on the basis of the recognition of Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear activities and of verifiable assurances from Iran as to the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme; calls on the EU States that are members of the Security Council to transfer the Iran dossier back from the Security Council to negotiations within the NPT framework;
2. Is firmly convinced that dialogue and diplomacy can achieve a realistic, long-term solution to the Iranian issue, particularly within a multilateral framework under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna;
3. Stresses the importance of the proposals made on several occasions by the Director General of the IAEA, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, regarding political, economic and commercial normalisation of relations between Iran and the international community, including the United States, in exchange for a long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear energy question; is concerned at the fact that to date the response from Washington and London seems to be inspired more by the wish to make military confrontation inevitable than by efforts to find a political solution to the current conflict;
4. Refuses to consider war as a means of resolving the ‘Iranian nuclear question’ and rejects in consequence any attempt, including by the Bush Administration, to create an international coalition – as in the case of Iraq – ready to undertake military intervention in Iran;
5. Notes the recent ‘joint report’ by all the United States security agencies and services, including the CIA, which states unequivocally that the Iranian authorities stopped all military nuclear programmes in 2003 and that Iran consequently does not represent that clear and immediate danger which would, according to US President Bush, justify military intervention in Iran;
6. Is extremely alarmed by President Bush’s reactions, which consist in denying the content of the report and taking the opposite course to the one it recommends, with a military solution to the Iranian problem being seen as the only option, inter alia with an eye to the American presidential elections at the end of 2008;
7. Takes the view that, on the contrary, this report by 17 American agencies offers a fresh opportunity – which is certainly credible and unique of its kind – to return the Iranian nuclear issue to the only political-institutional context possible, namely the IAEA and the United Nations; calls on the European Union and its High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Mr Solana, to take an immediate political and diplomatic initiative within the IAEA, together with the Arab League, with a view to having the Iranian nuclear question discussed again in Vienna in a multilateral framework reinforced by the guarantees offered by the existing international treaties on the subject;
8. Calls on the Iranian Government in this context to give the international community credible proof, as a matter of urgency, of its genuine desire to find a long-term political solution to the ‘nuclear question’, inter alia by authorising the immediate, unconditional return of IAEA inspectors to its territory, in accordance with the principle that every country has a right to civilian nuclear energy, but only within a context of independent checks on the possible use for military purposes of enriched uranium and plutonium;
9. Condemns any use of the nuclear issue, including by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for purposes of ideological propaganda or to threaten stability in the region, as exemplified by his unacceptable statements on the existence of the State of Israel or the possibility of an Iranian attack on Afghanistan or other countries in the region; stresses that, in terms of national public opinion, the Iranian President’s manipulation of the nuclear issue is in a sense proportionate to his growing political isolation, this manipulation hiding his inability to offer his people any prospect of democratic and economic development;
10. Expresses its support for all the democratic and civil-society political groupings, including women’s and students’ associations, which are fighting for democracy and human rights in Iran in a non-violent way, despite the growing repression; recalls and reaffirms its many resolutions on this subject;
11. Notes the recent judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the London Court which strongly criticise the way in which the blacklist of terrorist organisations and individuals is drawn up by the competent bodies of the European Union and which, more specifically, call for the Iranian opposition organisations to be removed from this list; recalls that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has also expressed this opinion; calls on the Council to take the necessary steps to implement these judgments, which clearly call into question the political and legal validity of the ‘blacklist’; calls for the ‘blacklist’ to be done away with;
12. Decides to invite Mr ElBaradei to present his whole proposal for a long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear issue to the European Parliament; calls on the Slovenian Presidency of the European Union to support Parliament officially in its endeavours not to allow weapons and confrontation to be the only recourse, as advocated by the United States;
13. Reiterates its call for strict application of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); calls on all countries to sign it and to call a definitive halt to military nuclear activities; recalls the importance it attaches to the idea of creating a Mediterranean region entirely without nuclear weapons, which requires the NPT to be signed by all the countries of the Middle East;
14. Is convinced that the management in political rather than military terms of the Iranian crisis is tied in with the present and future credibility of the European Union, as in the case of the Anglo-American war against Iraq; demands in consequence that High Representative Javier Solana be a spokesman for genuinely European initiatives which are not subordinate to the strategic interests of the United States and which take account of the fact that the EU and its Member States have the economic and commercial means to make, if they so wish, an authentically European voice heard on this issue;
15. Appeals to the competencies and responsibilities of the EU Member States in terms of foreign policy, defence and energy policy, and calls on them to express joint positions which are coordinated with those of the EU High Representative on the Iran issue;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Member States, the Parliament and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the UN Secretary-General, the Director General of the IAEA and the Secretary General of the Arab League.