MEPs unite over Pakistan
Posted, September 02, 2010 @ 00:00
Brussels, September 2nd - European Parliament -- Sajjad Karim MEP, chairman of the parliament's Friends of Pakistan group, arranged a meeting to put forward a parliamentary response to the still unfolding immense scale of the flooding that has taken place in Pakistan.
ECR MEP Sajjad Karim firstly gave his colleagues an appraisal of the situation as it currently stands and feedback from the Development committee meeting of yesterday.
Welcoming the humanitarian aid to the flood victims, amounting to a total of €70 million, provided by the EU, Sajjad Karim stated "We will stand by Pakistan as it faces these most difficult times. The people of Pakistan will not be left to face these challenges on their own."
ALDE MEP Liz Lynne speaking at the meeting said: "We should be proud of the response to this devastating disaster by the people of the UK, but EU funding is essential for the immediate relief and rebuilding of Pakistan in the long term. I am pleased to say that the EU has responded well so far but we must make sure that aid continues and we should look at the possibility of restructuring Pakistan's debt as we don't want the aid eaten up by debt repayments."
Part of the unfolding crisis is the amount of agricultural land (some 3.4 million hectares) that has been destroyed. "We have to assist now in the restart of agricultural production for the next harvests; This requires a specific action, to be reported by the European Union", stated Lambert van Nistelrooij, Dutch MEP (EPP) and member of the Parliamentary Delegation for South East Asia.
Another important point was made by Green MEP and chair of south Asia delegation Jean Lambert: "a way of helping Pakistan would be alleviate their international debt or at least grant a moratorium on it" fearing that any aid given to Islamabad could end up being "taken back" through debt repayments.
Pakistan now needs a long-term perspective of support. The Members present agreed to see how they can be most effective in raising relevant issues in delegations, group and committees.
Sir Robert Atkins MEP will today formally raise the matter at foreign affairs committee.
"The EU must come up with a comprehensive response focusing on development and reconstruction aid and support for the medium to long term." said Sajjad Karim, who also called on the commission to give a sustained commitment to Pakistan to assist with the recovery.