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GOALS FOR DEMOCRACY
Despite the international crisis, party conferences are in full swing. This is how it should be Ñ and it was truly disturbing that some commentators were arguing that normal political business should be suspended in the aftermath of 11 September.
However unfashionable they may have become, political parties are still key elements within a parliamentary democracy. To suffocate their annual seaside conferences would have been a first-class victory for the terrorists.
Last week I went to two party conferences. The first, from Sunday to Tuesday, was with the Liberal Democrats in Bournemouth. Here, our sober reactions to the assault on America tempered the otherwise up-beat mood that Lib Dems still enjoy after our good general election result of last June.
My second party conference, from Wednesday to Friday, was that of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This is the transnational political force that has grown up around our group of MEPs in the European Parliament. Founded in 1977, it now has member parties from over twenty countries, and is EuropeÕs third largest political party (after the socialists and conservatives). One of the decisions taken at Ljubljana was to introduce a form of direct membership of ELDR so that citizens from all over Europe can sign up to support us without previously having been a member of a national political party. We hope this will be an added spur to the building of European Liberal Democracy, and the spreading of our values worldwide.
A common feature of both party conferences was the determination to provide a reasoned justification for a measured military response to the aggression of Osama bin Laden. Political objectives have to be set so that we will know when to stop the military action. No global alliance against terrorism could hope to hold together without a feasible and published strategy. Revenge is unjustifiable. So is a Crusade against Islam.
The arrest and trial of bin Laden is the top objective. The complete overthrow of the Taliban regime that harbours him is another. The Taliban want to return Afghanistan to the age of the Prophet, a time of no fundamental rights or universal, humane values. But the Taliban are also the source of the worst crime racket in history, producing most of the worldÕs illegal drugs. Despite their vicious puritanism, the Taliban are cynical capitalists, even profiting from speculation in the stocks of companies worst affected by the destruction of the World Trade Centre. A third political objective must be to strengthen the peace efforts in the Middle East. Without a settlement of the status of Jerusalem and a secure homeland for the Palestinians the source of this fanaticism will not be cut off.
This article first appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times.
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Andrew's
work
in the European Parliament since 1999
Andrew is Vice-President of the European Parliament delegation to the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe.
Andrew drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights which has strengthened the rights of all the citizens of the European Union.
Andrew is working for improved links between the EU and Turkey, to encourage improvements in Turkey's human rights record and to enhance its democracy.
Andrew's campaigning in the East of England
Andrew has led calls for the Air Travel industry to be subjected to the same rigorous environmental criteria as other modes of transport
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