« Jihad in Spain | Main | Patriot Act Lives »
March 1, 2006
No apologies for the cartoons
The Nederlands do not surrender:
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS � EU foreign ministers on Monday (27 February) changed the wording of a statement on the Danish cartoon row at the insistence of Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot, who wanted to avoid the suggestion of an EU apology towards the Muslim world.
Strong possition in favour of freedom of expresion:
The statement in its first paragraph says that "The [EU] council acknowledges and regrets that these cartoons were considered offensive and distressing by Muslims across the world."An earlier version of the paragraph, contested by the Dutch, said that the EU regretted "that these cartoons caused offence."
"I put the first paragraph under discussion and this has been adapted so that freedom of speech has remained upright," Mr Bot told reporters.
"It is now clear that we do not make an apology for the cartoons," said a senior Dutch diplomat.
But it is not the case of all UE countries...
Meanwhile, diplomats said that Spain took the other extreme, pushing for a conciliatory tone in the council conclusions.Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero initiated the "Alliance of Civilisations" project last summer, co-sponsored by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Read the complete article: Foreign ministers wrangle over cartoon row text.
Posted by at March 1, 2006 7:59 PM
