The EU’s policy of double standards must end!
Intervention of AKEL MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis
21st June 2017
“It is high time the EU seriously deals with the impunity of crimes committed against humanity and all its factors (both economic and political) on an equal footing.” This is what AKEL MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis pointed out yesterday in his intervention in the plenary session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the European Parliament and countries of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). N. Sylikiotis was speaking on behalf of the Confederal Group of the European united Left-Nordic Green Left in the European Parliament.
“We welcome all efforts made against the impunity of crimes committed against humanity, both in the cases that have been brought to court and the efforts made for economic and political factors to be held accountable,” stated N. Sylikiotis. At the same time, however, the AKEL MEP denounced the double-standards policy being implemented by the European Union towards certain countries and organizations.
“We cannot but note that there is still a long way to go until the international community resolutely combats the problem of the impunity of crimes against humanity. We can only recall the lies that were said about the war waged against Iraq and Yugoslavia in order to legitimize wars that have destabilized entire regions. We cannot but believe that the US and NATO are not accountable for the crimes they have committed in Iraq, Vietnam, or the Guantanamo prison.”
Finally, we cannot accept that Israel is not held accountable for the crimes it has and is committing against humanity in occupied Palestine, 50 years after the 1967 war, violating International Law and all relevant United Nations resolutions, indeed at a time when the policy of apartheid imposed on the Palestinians is continuing by subjecting the Palestinian people to psychological violence, ignoring International Law and blockading the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a collective punishment of the local population,” the AKEL MEP stressed.
