Guinea-Conakry
Greens lead Fisheries Committee to reject financing to Guinea dictatorship
Following a brutal repression of protests in a sports stadium in Conakry, Guinea on 29 September, which caused over 150 deaths and many more injuries, the Greens/European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament today led a European Parliament fisheries committee vote to reject a fisheries agreement that would enable EU financing to that country's government.
Swedish Green MEP Isabella Lovin commented:
"We are delighted that we have won a majority to reject the EU-Guinea fisheries agreement. This will block the release of over 1 million of financing (1) and send a clear political message to a military dictatorship that has just committed a brutal act of suppression against its own people.
This is the first time the Fisheries Committee has voted down a fisheries agreement, and the decision was a narrow one. While the Socialists and Liberals followed our lead, Christian Democrats and Conservatives apparently considered it appropriate to authorise payments to the government of Guinea, even in the wake of its bloody actions."
Notes to editors:
(1) EU payments to Guinea would amount to 1.05 million for the first year of the agreement.
