(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Relations between Suriname and the European Union (EU) will not break down because of amnesty for President Desi Bouterse, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin and legislator Mahinder Jogi (NF/VHP) say during separate interviews with de Ware Tijd.
DOE-fraction leader Carl Breeveld thinks it is unfortunate that the EU has used this issue in an attempt to patronize Suriname. “The relationship should be based on confidence. We should be given room to solve these things (the amnesty issue … eds.) our own way and it should not be used as a stick against us,” Breeveld says. Jogi believes things are never as bad as they seem, and if the EU has presented a prepared one-sided statement, Suriname’s government is free to issue its own statement and inform the community. Breeveld, who is also a member of the preparatory committee for the EU-ACP meeting, points out the meeting is a purely parliamentary affair, adding that Parliament as a whole has made the effort to get the ACP-EU meeting to Suriname. Besides, Jogi is not under the impression that the EU wanted to lecture Suriname on the amnesty issue, but has only expressed its concern. Jogi places the position of the European Parliament (EP) in that framework.
At first, the EP did not want to hold the meeting in Suriname, but was voted down by the ACP legislators, who unanimously supported Suriname, in Denmark on Wednesday. The opposition legislator believes that due to this international attention, Suriname should not think lightly of this matter. “I still think human rights violations should not be swept under the rug of an amnesty law,” he adds. “If people, organizations and countries have problems with shaking the President’s hand, they should just say so,” Jogi says. Lackin says the Cotonou agreement between the EU and its former colonies cannot be set aside by the EU just like that. He does not think relations between Suriname and the EU will worsen because of the amnesty issue.
