Summary: March 10, 2005: European Parliament - Commemoration to Victims of Terrorism
Hommage to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004
10.03.2004 - 12 noon
President of Parliament Josep BORRELL recalled that, at the initiative of the European Parliament and taken up by the EU, 11 March would be the European day to commemorate the victims of terrorism. Spain, he said, had had to put up with violence for many years. Even during the darkest days of ETA terrorism, Spain and Europe never gave up on liberty. The events of 11 September 2001 meant that the world was faced with a new form of terrorism. "In 2001, we said that we were all
Americans, and on March 11 2004, we said that we were all on the trains in Madrid. " Those who died in Madrid, said the President, did not die in vain. The events in Madrid, he said, helped to focus minds and give up on differences surrounding the Constitution. The question remained though, he said, whether the EU had lived up to its commitments. Not everything that had been promised had been fulfilled. The EU needed to do more on judicial and police co-operation, traditional methods of
co-operation had proved to be insufficient. Why, he asked, had the European Public Prosecutor been set up and why had the EU not adopted a directive against money laundering?
President Borrell stated that himself, Commission President José Manuel BARROSO and Kofi ANNAN would be participating in the Conference on "Democracy and Terrorism", organised by the Madrid Club. He said there was no justification for terrorism but there were causes and these needed to be examined. In particular, President Borrell called for better integration of immigrants and for the respect of the fundamental values that underpin society.
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