Arab world's first parliament meets in Cairo

By Mohammed Abbas  |  December 27, 2005

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab world's first regional parliament held its inaugural meeting in Cairo on Tuesday but officials say it could be many years before the new institution gains enough clout to influence events in the region.

The 88 members, four from the parliaments or advisory councils of each Arab League member, met at the league's Cairo headquarters for a session addressed by Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The interim parliament has no binding legislative authority and can give its opinion only on matters referred to it by the Arab League council, which represents Arab governments. Based in Syria, it will meet twice a year.

Mubarak called the inaugural session "a historical occasion which opens new horizons for joint Arab action."

But Rawhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian legislature, said the parliament would be valuable only if it kept an eye on the actions of Arab governments.

"It must be a monitor of Arab executive institutions, but if it is just a union of parliaments then it's not going to be important," he told reporters at the meeting.

Some Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, do not have elected parliaments, so their representatives in the Arab parliament are drawn from appointed advisory councils which have little power.

Some of the elected Arab parliaments are dominated by the executive or ruling party and rarely challenge the government.

The concept of the Arab parliament was part of a package of institutional changes promoted by Moussa as a way to make the Arab League a stronger and more effective institution.

But Arab heads of state have not approved other aspects of the package, including an Arab court of justice and an Arab security council to handle regional disputes.

The new interim parliament has five years to draft the arrangements for a permanent Arab parliament.

In one of its first decisions on Tuesday, it chose liberal Kuwaiti Mohammed Jassim al-Saqr as its speaker, said Arab League spokesman Alaa Rushdi. Saqr, who has been head of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign relations committee, has an initial term of one year, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said.

Arab League officials say they hope the permanent parliament will eventually have teeth, possibly through direct elections similar to those held for the European parliament.

"It's only a start, but the European parliament started small too. It's part of a trend away from an Arab League which exclusively represents governments," one official said.

Under Moussa in recent years, the Arab League has increasingly brought civil society groups into discussions.

"We have several regional parliaments -- the European Parliament and the African Parliament. The Arab Parliament will be looking at them and their experiences and what they can learn from them," said spokesman Rushdi. 

 

 

 

Birth of new Arab parliament Regional, Politics, 12/27/2005 In the first session of the interim Arab parliament which kicked off at the Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday December 27, 2005, Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak described the birth of the first Arab collective parliament as a "historic moment" that is to open new horizons of joint Arab action. An Egyptian government report noted that: The President said the birth of this parliament promotes inter-Arab parliamentary cooperation, supports MPs in dealing with the nation's issues, promotes the AL to have step forward towards development and gives birth to a new important agency that keeps abreast of the essence of this age. Stressing the importance of the joint Arab action, Mubarak said that "the parliament that we launch today gives added value to the system of Arab joint action that we must build upon and promote." Mubarak stressed that democracy, human rights, popular participation and the sovereignty of the law were not exclusive to one culture as they are a set of human norms and principles shared by all nations. He called for the need to spread awareness over the culture of dialogue, wider participation, respect of diverse opinion while at the same time clinging to the Arab identity and norms. The decision to form the interim Arab parliament was taken during the Arab leaders' summit in Algiers, on March 2005, to pave the way for forming a permanent Arab Parliament. On his part, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa considered today's session an example of tangible and clear development in Arab action performance, pointing out that the Arab Parliament would be a crucible for all political powers in Arab societies. Moussa pointed out that the establishment of the Arab Parliament is a chain in a series of other activities, referring to the establishment of the Arab Court of Justice and the Arab Security Council. Meanwhile, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said, in a word read on his behalf by Speaker of the Algerian Parliament Abdul Qadir bin Saleh, the inauguration of an Interim Arab Parliament sparked a glimpse of hope long-cherished by Arabs calling on all Arab countries to work on fulfilling their nations' aspirations. _____________________________________________________________________________________