madam president generations of soviet school children grew up learning that comrade stalin had invented the internal combustion engine
it appears that european school children will grow up learning that the eu is a defender of human rights but what have you actually done beyond rhetoric
the rapporteur highlights the weakness of the eu's policy towards the burmese junta a weakness that is tantamount to appeasement
the rapporteur tells us that the eu is very concerned indeed about human rights abuses outside the eu but what about the forced deportations of roma from belgium in nineteen ninety-nine during the premiership of guy verhofstadt who now sits here as an mep
what about the forced deportations of roma from france this year
but maybe words are all we can expected from the external action service
in brussels last week amnesty international raised concerns over the lack of a human rights unit within the external action service
words are very fine but action might be more helpful to the oppressed and suffering peoples of the world
last week in committee i accused the belgian presidency of being a ghost presidency
to my astonishment the presidency agreed with me saying that was exactly what they want it to be
so can i ask baroness ashton to attend the next meeting of the subcommittee on human rights and not just in spirit on ten january where she can take part in an exchange of views on the human rights and democracy network and explain to us exactly what the word action means to her
