Monday, 8th June 2009
June Brussels Briefing
1. THE CHALLENGE FOR FARMING IN THE NEWLY ELECTED EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
I am delighted to have been re-elected as a Conservative MEP for Scotland and look forward to doing my best to represent the interests of Scotland during the years ahead. Some of the biggest challenges I will have to tackle will be those facing the farming sector. There are major on-going problems which will require immediate attention, such as the mad idea to enforce mandatory EID for sheep and the drastic slump in dairy prices. The post-2013 reform of the CAP and a major overhaul of the CAP budget are also going to be on a packed agenda in Brussels.
But one of my key concerns is the way that cheap food has become the main driving force behind Europe's supermarket giants, a relatively small number of whom now dominate the EU retailing sector, using their massive buying-power to force down prices paid to suppliers to unsustainable levels. In Scotland, this policy has allowed supermarket profits to soar at the expense of our farmers, many of whom, particularly in the dairy sector, have been forced out of business. The supermarkets need to be brought under control and I feel that it may take the EU to do this.
In the longer term farmers will have to become less dependent on subsidy and on market intervention and focus more on high quality regional markets. Environmental protection and sustainable rural development must be key parts of any farm business plan. Diversity, based on agricultural and extra-agricultural activities is the reality of many farm systems throughout Europe. For example, the co-operation of agriculture with the tourism industry and the catering trade increases the attractiveness of the countryside in many areas of the EU. The production of regional specialities, combined with direct marketing, has proved very popular with visitors. Innovative and saleable products can only be produced and marketed by means of close co-operation between the farming, food, beverage and grocery trades. Marketing associations and producers’ groups increase the effectiveness of farm-based supply and are necessary prerequisites for the long-term success of alternative forms of marketing.
I will do everything possible to promote and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of our farmers. If we are to secure a sustainable future for the EU agricultural sector then we must give a high priority to protecting the interests of those who live and work in our rural areas. Only by so doing, can we hope to lead the world in producing high quality food in a healthy environment and a beautiful countryside.
2. SUPPORT IRANIANS IN THEIR QUEST FOR FREEDOM
One could only admire the zeal of the brave young people of Iran as they took to the streets last week demanding an end to the mullahs’ theocratic dictatorship. Their courageous resistance against their fundamentalist rulers showed the free world that the regime does not speak for the Iranian population.
No one can honestly believe the election results or the figures the regime is claiming for voter turnout. It was Leon Trotsky who said "It is not the people who vote that count, but the people who count the votes." That was certainly true in this election.
The main resistance coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which has a parliament-in-exile in France, had undercover observers at 25,000 of the 40,000 polling stations throughout the country. They reported that turnout was extremely low. Their final estimate put overall turnout at around 15%. In other words less than 8 million Iranians voted.
The mullahs, on the direct instructions of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, (leaked the day before the elections took place), announced that over 40 million people had cast their votes, with the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning by a landslide (63% of the vote). Indeed such was the farcical nature of the mullahs' efforts to rig the election, that Ahmadinejad won a huge majority even in the villages and districts of his main opponents.
The Supreme Leader (Ayatollah) is Iran’s most powerful figure and will retain the position for life. It is the Ayatollah who appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the 12 members of the powerful Guardian Council and the commanders of all the armed forces.
At a speech from Tehran University on Friday 19 June, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for an end to the violence, saying the outcome should be from the ballot box, not on the street. He said that there was an 11 million vote difference between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi, arguing that it would have been impossible to rig 11 million votes. However, his claim is undermined by the fact that Ahmadinejad’s victory was announced before many of the polling stations had even finished counting their votes!
Undeterred, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has now accused Western nations of starting the clamour about ballot rigging, singling out Great Britain as a country that is trying to create unrest in Iran. “Keep your nose out of our business,” he said, “these are domestic affairs you are meddling in and you are responsible for the allegations of vote rigging to begin with".
If Ahmadinejad had the support he professes, the regime could have tolerated the street protests, but since the regime has no legitimacy or social base, it does not have the capacity to accept any sign of dissent. Hence the continuing crackdown, with the expulsion of foreign journalists, the suspension of mobile phone and internet networks, dawn raids on homes and universities, sporadic killings and mass arrests.
On 13th June the Iranian political landscape markedly changed. The main issue now is no longer the feuding between the various factions of the regime; it is about the people of Iran versus the totality of the religious dictatorship.
Millions of ordinary men and women, who have suffered immensely under the mullahs, took to the streets chanting “Death to the dictator”. But as always they paid a heavy price for their courage. Dozens have been killed by the regime’s storm-troopers, known as Basijis. This, of course, is the same regime which, since it came to power, has executed over 120,000 political opponents for speaking out for freedom. The majority were members of the main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI).
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, who is President-elect of the NCRI, said the re-appointment of Ahmadinejad would result in a sharp rise in suppression of opponents of the corrupt regime, followed by widespread internal purges and factional feuding. She also warned that Ahmadinejad will now redouble his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and to export terrorism and fundamentalism, combined with further meddling in Iraq, while simultaneously inciting conflict throughout the region. That is exactly the scenario that we now see unfolding.
Gordon Brown told the House of Commons last week, "I think Iran has got to listen very carefully. ... The relationship they will have and the respect they will have from the rest of the world will depend on how they respond to what are legitimate grievances that are being expressed and have to be answered." This threat now needs to be backed up with action. The EU is Iran’s largest trading partner. It is disgraceful that we are paying cash into the mullahs’ coffers. Britain should ask the UN Security Council to impose smart sanctions against the regime, targeting in particular its sale of oil.
We should also show our full political support to the brave Iranian Resistance members, some 3,400 of whom are living in Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq, near the Iranian border and are under direct threat of extradition to Iran, where they would face certain torture and execution.
I co-sponsored a resolution adopted in April by the European Parliament urging the Iraqi government to respect the status of these brave men and women as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The European Union should now urgently follow up on this, making sure that Iraq does not violate their rights. Doing so would send a signal to the Iranian people that the West stands with them.
The West’s stance towards the Tehran regime needs to be overhauled.
We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the oppressive clerical regime with its odious record of corruption and human rights abuse and its discredited brand of religious fascism. This is what the British government and EU must come to understand. Today nothing can justify negotiating with and appeasing this medieval regime and, as we have witnessed, such actions are strongly condemned by the Iranian people. The West's policy of appeasement has been counterproductive and, if anything, has made the regime more brazen. If this failed policy is quickly abandoned, the regime will disintegrate far more readily. Britain in particular should align itself with the Iranian people and their just demands.
The fundamentalist mullahs are brutally suppressing the people of Iran. Thousands are on death row and Iran is recognised as the most prolific executioner of minors, having judicially murdered dozens over the past three years. Last month, it hanged Delara Darabi, a talented young female artist, for an alleged crime which she denied committing at the age of 17.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, more than 120,000 political prisoners have been executed. The regime uses more than 170 forms of physical and psychological torture, including public hangings, stoning to death, amputation of limbs, eye gouging and draining prisoners’ blood.
Ahmadinejad had once promised to bring oil revenues to the dinner table of poor Iranians'. He promised to eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment. In office, he handed lucrative contracts to cronies including his former colleagues in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Under his watch, the official level of Iran's annual inflation rate reached 29.4 percent and the price of food items increased on average by 2 to 5 times.
Rather than work to solve the people's financial woes, Iran spends billions of dollars annually on its illicit nuclear weapons programme and sends money to terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, to de-rail the fragile Middle East peace process.
Ever since the NCRI blew the whistle on Iran's nuclear sites at Natanz and Arak in 2002, European leaders have wasted time trying to negotiate with the regime and offering countless incentives. EU officials pinned hope on behaviour change and moderation on the part of the mullahs. But, moderation of Iran's fundamentalist regime is only a mirage. The mullahs ignored countless incentives. EU leaders have to face the reality that the regime is only interested in negotiations to buy time to press ahead with its nuclear projects. The mild sanctions currently in force are having little effect, not least because the EU continues to remain Iran's biggest trading partner. But time is now running out.
We should count ourselves lucky that we have a free and fair election process in Europe; it is something of a distant dream in Iran.
