mr president with decisive and timely action towards libya the eu and the human rights council have indeed shown that they can take action when needed
they can indeed
they can show that different regional groups can come together and they can show that the council does not need to be divided
today there is no longer a reason why action on iran north korea the democratic republic of congo burma and sudan could not be next in line
this time is significant for another reason
a first comprehensive review of the working methods of the council has come to a conclusion and like my colleagues i feel disappointed by the fact that the council failed to appreciate the importance of the review
the eu prepared itself well but failed to win the support of others
but at least the independence of the human rights commissioner and of the special procedure was not damaged so this is already an achievement under the present conditions
in any future discussions of the council's work the european union must be able to build alliances and to reach across to other partners
it must also be willing to listen and able to compromise
i think we had a very welcome participation by the high representative in the meeting some weeks ago
high representative i salute you for taking this step and giving a very impressive presentation there
so to my last point the eu's performance
after the creation of the human rights and democracy directorate at the european external action service the eu delegation in geneva will have a central role to play in eu human rights policy in the world
it needs increased resources and its work must be integrated into all fields of eu foreign policy
i am very honoured to be leading parliament's delegation to the human rights council's sixteenth session at this critical time next week
