ACP-EU meeting abandoned after ministers banned

PRESIDENT of the European Parliament Pat Cox was last night caught in the middle of a row that led to the cancellation of a major meeting with politicians from some of the world’s poorest nations.

The fifth ACP-EU meeting of politicians from the European Parliament and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries was abandoned after two Zimbabwean ministers were banned from the Parliament building by Mr Cox and the leaders of all but one of the political parties.

Zimbabwe had dispatched the two senior ministers to the talks knowing both are on an EU list of people barred from EU countries in protest at human rights violations.

Following three days of meetings to try and find a compromise, the week-long conference to discuss future trade agreements was called off last night when the representatives of the ACP refused to attend the conference without the Zimbabwean delegates.

In a statement, they said they regretted the European Parliament's decision and asked them to apply the law and respect their own criteria.

Fianna Fáil MEP Niall Andrews said the Parliament's attitude sent out the wrong signals to the ACP countries.

"Some of the European MEPS in Brussels approached this issue with such intransigence that no diplomatic solution could be reached.

"EU relations with the countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions have been badly damaged. The future for the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, which has worked so well in building up good relations between the EU and the developing world is very bleak indeed," he said.

Green MEP Patricia McKenna, blamed Mr Cox for the crisis.

"These Zimbabwean delegates, blacklisted in the EU owing to sanctions placed on the Zimbabwean government, were denied entry passes into the European Parliament building by Pat Cox despite having been legally granted visas by the Belgian authorities.

"There is simply no legal basis for this decision.

"Yet again, we have seen evidence of an EU tendency to literally make up rules as they go along," she said.

However, Mr Cox said the issue was a test case of whether the European Union would stand tough against human rights abuses.

"The Parliament stated in its position that it was vital that the travel ban imposed on certain persons who bear a wide responsibility for serious violations of human rights be rigorously enforced, without exception," he said.

The EU has banned Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and members of his government from entering the EU and has frozen bank accounts because of corruption.

However, the ban did not apply to meetings such as the ACP-EU assembly.

As a result the Belgian government granted visas to the two ministers despite the fact they were on the banned list.

The co-president of the Assembly, MEP Glenys Kinnock said President Mugabe had deliberately sent the two ministers on the EU's travel ban list as a clear provocation.

The decision not to allow them into the European Parliament was in line with decisions reached by the Parliament in the past over Zimbabwe, she said.