NCRI – Mr. Paulo Casaca, Portuguese member of the European Parliament in an interview entitled "challenging times", with the Parliament Magazine said that "the Iranian nuclear issue is just a chapter of the Iranian regime’s expansionism that is increasingly obvious in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and the Gulf."
"The ultimate way to ensure a solution for the ongoing political issues is to have an Iranian government accountable to its citizens, and therefore, for Europe to support the Iranian opposition", Mr. Casaca whose country holds the EU presidency said.
Here is an excerpt of interview related to Iran:
Parliament Magazine, July 2, 2007:
Question: What can Portugal bring to the negotiation table on the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme?
Paulo Casaca: On the nuclear issue and human rights, the negotiations have been a complete failure and have only served to convince the Iranian regime that Europe is not seriously determined to stop Iran’s nuclear rearmament, as long as investment contracts and trade relations continue to expend, as is the case. For the negotiations on the nuclear issue to be meaningful, I believe that European negotiators need to understand that the nuclear issue is just a chapter of the Iranian regime’s expansionism that is increasingly obvious in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and the Gulf.
They must also understand that the vast majority of the Iranian people fully identify with the values of modern civilisation shared by Europeans, not with the middle Age set of rules imposed by the ruling establishment. The ultimate way to ensure a solution for the ongoing political issues is to have an Iranian government accountable to its citizens, and therefore, for Europe to support the Iranian opposition, whether it is economic, social or political. One thing should therefore be taken off the negotiating table: that is the black-listing of the opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK). This was officially put up for negotiation in order to gain concessions on the nuclear issue, but it has become obvious that what it was really about was winning trade concessions, in spite of the lack of legal and political basis for such a move.
