They would have us believe that the role of Parliament – in any country – is to allow for democracy to take place; to allow the common citizen to have a voice. The idea of Parliament is to let your average Tom, Dick or Haroon vote for whoever they think deserves power. Right? Perhaps that is the idea, but when it comes to the European Parliament, democracy is a farce. I recently embarked upon what I considered to be a quest at their pearly gates in Brussels. I thought I was the Arab St George, set out to slay the dragon of injustice. I soon discovered, however, that lobbying the European Parliament is about as effective as a steel life jacket. The lobby group that I was part of had gone to Brussels in order to try and convince our Members of the European Parliament (MEP) not to renew the EU Trade Agreement with Israel as it was not adhering to the current contract. In brief, when exporting to the EU, Israel has preferential trade status and pays severely reduced taxes, or, as is usually the case, none at all. Article 2 of the Trade Agreement demands that Israel must act with respect for human rights. Without getting into the politics of why I think the Israeli government is horrible, the fact that Article 2 was included in the original Trade Agreement, and then approved by the EU is ludicrous. It’s insulting to pretend that while hundreds of UN resolutions and statements have been condemning Israel, the country shows respect for human rights. If you’re going to oppress a country at least have the guts to admit it. It’s no fun if you pretend to be nice. So as shiny little Europeans in their sparkly little bubble, MEPs have been pushing for this Trade Agreement to be updated. Certain that I had reason, logic and justice on my side, I skipped through the metal detectors of the Parliament building. My group met several MEPs, most of whom were gracious and ready to listen. The problem is that they think listening is enough; be nice, offer your constituents some chocolate milk and they’ll love you. In fact, one of our representatives even had a conveniently-placed picture of Che Guevara on his wall. He must have heard the liberals were coming. The problem with MEPs is that they are too … normal. They’re average, although probably intelligent people. They might even care about what you have to say. They might care that kids get bombed in some remote country. They might care that they are helping to finance it. But miraculously, after all the campaigning they have had to do to get to their positions, most of them don’t see it as their responsibility to instigate the change that their constituents want to see. Especially when it comes to the Middle East. Don’t even get me started on Palestine. Palesti … where? The few who do try to stand up for the principles that most of them once had, find themselves facing a barrage of hate-mail and death-threats. The rest will tell you that they don’t have the power to seek justice, because the European Commission hold all the power. Apparently Parliament can’t do anything. And when the clock strikes five and it’s time to go home, they will skip merrily away, happy in the knowledge that they did a lot of filing today. Hurrah for bureaucracy. The European Commission runs on appointment, meaning that the people have no say in who holds the sceptre of power. If Parliament holds little control then it has no reason to exist and it should be the MEPs trying to change this. But thinking about that little country called Pakistine, or whatever they call themselves makes leaders who have forgotten the meaning of passion and empathy in their crusade for a higher income and a speedboat feel awkward. So the Middle East is blotted of their oh-so-political map. The European Union will continue to have a blind spot for countries such as Palestine until its leaders are forced to see, by its citizens, that apathy is not good enough. Unfortunately, and ironically, few of us Europeans are that bothered by their apathy. How fitting. **Samarrai is a political activist BM
