Debates - Wednesday 15 September 2004 - Tobias Pflüger

Pflüger (GUE/NGL). – (DE) Mr President, the war in Iraq drags on, and Allied troops continue to kill civilians as they bombard cities on a daily basis. In terms of day-to-day life there, Iraq is very much a society at war, with battles, raids, hostage taking and the vicious circle of violence. It is, in essence, the war of aggression waged on Iraq that lies behind the present calamitous situation, which is getting worse from day to day.

On the assumption that the interpreter got it right, Mr Bot said that ‘the occupation was brought to an end’, which is obviously nonsense. We call for the occupation to really be brought to an end, which means the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

What is NATO doing? What is the European Union doing? NATO’s involvement in Iraq is ongoing; will NATO troops be going there once NATO has trained the Iraqi security forces? It is obvious that the EU does not want to be left out; in contravention of international law, it seeks to push through an open market economy system in Iraq, and more and more private security firms from EU Member States are getting involved in the war. We are now thinking in terms of an EU force under the UN’s mandate. That is something to which we must say ‘no’; it must not be allowed to happen. We must not allow the EU to be involved in the war in Iraq or to support the occupation.

(Applause)