madam president i speak as the european parliament's vice-president for democracy and human rights and thank ms <unk> for her excellent report
in her speech lady ashton talked about the new structures within the eeas or at least she did not talk about them
when i founded the european instrument for democracy and human rights many years ago i believed it was necessary to have a structure to deliver democracy and human rights
that still exists
incidentally the commission wanted to abolish it and mainstream human rights and democracy through all external programmes
lady ashton does not talk about mainstreaming in her speech but i fear that when she talks about a silver thread so thin that it risks breaking at the first pressure she is talking about a sort of filigree foreign policy
i think we need more than that
we would like to see as others have said right around the house a directorate for human rights and democracy within the eeas and possibly a special representative
like mrs hautala i was in oslo last week and i would like to just reflect on one single point
there were about a thousand people i sat just behind mrs pelosi united across the atlantic politicians diplomats civil servants and ngos happily united around the european union
when there was a standing ovation it was unanimous no wave no fragmented approach
everybody stood up because we stood as western civil society behind a set of principles
so in the future when the eu projects its soft power it must also project principles
we look to you baroness ashton to bring those forward
