De Brún calls for EU role in resolution of Basque conflict

Bairbre de Brún

Bairbre de Brún joined prominent international speakers in calling on the European Union to encourage a peace process in the Basque Country.
The call was made at a conference on Conflict Resolution in the EU which was addressed by Bairbre de Brún MEP, prominent South African human rights lawyer Brian Currin and former Secretary General of Interpol Raymond Kendall. Currin and Kendall are both members of the International Initiative for Peace and Dialogue in the Basque Country. The conference was attended by MEPs, staff and parliamentary assistants from all the main political groups in the European Parliament.
Speaking at the Conference de Brún said:
“As the US, the EU and others helped the Irish Peace Process, so too there is an important role for the international community in encouraging a peace process in the Basque country. In the first instance the European Union should encourage inclusive political dialogue in the Basque Country, recognising that a security response to conflict is not sufficient to ensure lasting peace.
“The EU has contributed and continues to contribute to the success story of the Irish Peace Process. We in Ireland can now also give something back through a proposed Europe-wide network of regions and cities that are coming out of conflict or that are living with conflict and exclusion, and through the possibility of establishing in the North of Ireland an EU Centre for Conflict Resolution.”
The Conference on Conflict Resolution in the EU was organised by Basque Friendship: MEPs support group for a peace process in the Basque Country, of which Bairbre de Brún is a member.