News Release
No. 107/04
June 28, 2004
EU COMMISSION STATEMENT ON THE TRANSFER OF POWER IN IRAQ
A ceremony marking the formal transfer of power to the Iraqi
government from the occupation administration has taken place this morning.
This is an important event.
We hope that future generations of Iraqis will be able to look back at this day
and see it as a moment when they were united and began working together to overcome
the legacy of decades of conflict and brutal authoritarian rule.
Only the Iraqi people can make this happen.
The Iraqi population has suffered for many years at the hands of those who wished
to manipulate the will of the Iraqi
people to their narrow self-interest.
The EU recognizes this and stands united in its desire to assist the Iraqi people
as they determine the future of their nation.
The handover of authority to the Interim Government is only the first step in
a much longer process.
Many challenges will need to be overcome before Iraq can truly call itself a free
and democratic state.
Not least among these is the security climate which has so hampered multilateral
efforts to deliver much needed humanitarian aid and to launch the reconstruction
process.
The European Commission has worked from the very beginning of the conflict to
promote European and international consensus on the way forward in Iraq.
We’ve backed up this work with our own financial resources: €305m has already
been committed from the EU budget for humanitarian aid and reconstruction in Iraq
and the Commission has proposed EU Member States agree to increase our contribution
in 2005.
The Union’s long-term goal is to build the same kind of long-term relationship
with Iraq as we have already with most of the Arab
World, bearing in mind that the EU is the biggest trading partner and donor
of development assistance for nearly all the countries of this region.
This month, the European Commission presented proposals
for a strategy through which to build a partnership with Iraq over the medium-term.
We looked what the EU could offer the Iraqi people and a country with which it
has never had any formal relationship.
Now we are keen to discuss these proposals with a new Iraqi administration with
real authority to govern and to develop plans for the future together. We also
want to work with the Iraqi people to discuss what you believe can be done by
the EU to improve your well-being.
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Press Contacts:
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Anthony Gooch
202-862-9523
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Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
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