20 Jul 2012, 09:48
The Joint Committee on European Union Affairs yesterday heard renowned journalist Ed Vulliamy call for a more proactive European Union assist Bosnia in emerging from its dark recent past.
Mr Vulliamy reported extensively on the Balkans conflict for the Observer and Guardian newspapers in the mid-1990s. He pointed to the continued pain for victims on the Bosnian side and believed that a ‘reckoning’ was required to secure a stable future. He believed that denial by much Bosnian Serb population of the scale of the atrocities was impeding genuine reconciliation.
Chairman of the Committee Dominic Hannigan TD said: “The Committee thanks Mr Vulliamy for a passionate, illuminating and sometimes unsettling address on current developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While he explained that Bosnia was too exhausted for another war, considerable issues endured around workplace discrimination, segregation in education and commemorating the dead.
“The Committee heard Mr Vulliamy describe the European Union record during the Balkan conflict as shameful and that there is now a debt to be paid. Ireland assumes the Presidency of the European Union January 2013 and has a role to play in progressing EU enlargement in the Western Balkans region. A number of voices on the Committee pointed out however that the EU should ensure common European values and respect for human rights are embedded in advance of any accession.”
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ENDS
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Committee Membership
Deputies
Dominic Hannigan, TD (Chairman)
Paschal Donohoe, TD (Vice-Chairman)
Timmy Dooley, TD
Bernard J Durkan, TD
Colm Keaveney, TD
Seán Kyne, TD
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, TD
Joe O’Reilly, TD
Mick Wallace, TD
Senators
Colm Burke,
Fidelma Healy Eames,
James Heffernan,
Terry Leyden,
Kathryn Reilly