Declaration of the President of the European University Institute, Josep Borrell Fontelles, on the situation in Libya
FLORENCE, Italy, February 24, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Through the research and teaching at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, special attention is dedicated to the relations between Europe and the Muslim-Arab world, with a particular emphasis on trans-Mediterranean relations, as well as to issues relating to migration.
It is for this reason that I am especially concerned by the brutal repression with which Colonel Gaddafi’s dictatorship is responding to the Libyan people’s reform demands. When the death toll reaches the thousands, when a government releases its tanks and helicopters in an indiscriminate slaughter of protestors, we are contributing to a historical ignominy comparable to the events of Budapest and Tiananmen.
I believe it therefore necessary for the EUI to raise its voice in condemnation of this brutal repression. I am gratified by the European Union’s (EU) decision to suspend negotiations on the association agreement with Libya; a country that does not form part of either the Union for the Mediterranean or the Euro-Mediterranean process. I sincerely hope that the EU’s response to the Libyan events acts as a firm support for the Libyan people’s rights, which have been violated by this brutal repression.
SOURCE
European University Institute (EUI)
