Olympic Truce

SESSION OF MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2002

Karamanou (PSE). – Mr. President, on Friday, February 8, the 19th Winter Olympics will begin in Salt Lake City, USA. As is well known, the Olympic Games, through the joint efforts of athletes from all over the world, aim to promote global peace, friendship, understanding, solidarity, dialogue, and the peaceful coexistence of peoples and cultures. In this spirit, the Olympic truce was established in the eighth century BC and became a fundamental principle of the Olympic Games. During the Games, all hostilities ceased. The weapons fell silent.

Mr. President, since the idea of the truce, that is, of global peace, aligns with the ideas and values that have been repeatedly proclaimed by our Parliament, I would like to request that you send a letter to the President of the Olympic Committee, Mr. Rogge, and the Secretary-General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, confirming that the European Parliament supports the idea of the truce and calls on those involved in conflicts to lay down their arms and dedicate the coming weeks, during the Olympic Games, to resolving their differences through peaceful means.