Pakistan-EU links risk stagnation

Date: 13/03/03

By David Cronin

MEPS may stall on approving a plan to upgrade the EU's links with Pakistan.

The country's diplomats say all obstacles preventing the European Parliament from rubberstamping the Union's new cooperation agreement with Islamabad have been removed.

By holding a general election last October and one for the Senate last month, they argue that Pervez Musharraf, who seized power from Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup, has fulfilled his pledge on returning Pakistan to democracy.

But Irish MEP John Cushnahan, author of a report on the accord, wants to meet representatives of Pakistan's political parties before deciding if he should urge the Parliament to endorse the deal.

Article 1 of the agreement, signed by Musharraf, Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt and European Commission President Romano Prodi in November 2001, insists on respect for human rights and democracy. "The [Parliament's] foreign affairs committee should discuss this issue again to assess whether or not the recent elections fulfil the criterion on democracy," the MEP told European Voice.

Cushnahan called Pakistan's election last October "seriously flawed". He condemned bans on two former premiers, Benazir Bhutto and Sharif, from running for office and argued that a requirement that candidates hold a university degree ruled out 96 of its 138 million people. The deputy headed the 88-member EU team which observed that poll.

The agreement covers economic cooperation, intellectual property and development assistance. It also commits Islamabad to negotiating a 'readmission agreement' with the Union on returning Pakistani immigrants in Europe to their homeland. It cannot come into effect until a majority of MEPs back it.

One Pakistani diplomat said that the country wished to see MEPs approving the accord "as expeditiously as possible".

"The process for restoration of democracy has been completed successfully," the official added. "We have had three fair and transparent elections to both houses of Parliament. The prime minister [Zafarullah Khan Jamali] has obtained the confidence of the national assembly and the parliament is functioning fully and vigorously."

MEPs may stall on approving a plan to upgrade the EU's links with Pakistan, although the country's diplomats say all obstacles preventing the European Parliament from rubberstamping the European Union's new cooperation agreement with Islamabad have been removed.