Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-18-Speech-4-304"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.19991118.16.4-304"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, the Commission would like to congratulate Mr Newton Dunn and the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights on the work they have produced.
I think that Parliament knows that, on this matter, it has long been the Commission’s intention that the battle against document fraud and the counterfeiting and abuse of travel documents should contribute, above all, to improving the monitoring of transit from external borders. In this sense, it is an important instrument in the battle against illegal or unauthorised immigration and against the networks that traffic in human beings. At the same time, the issue in question also falls within the scope of police cooperation and the fight against crime in general. Therefore, the choice of legal basis is an open one.
I would like to draw the Chamber’s attention, however, to the fact that, in this area, the conclusions of the Tampere European Council took a certain view of the situation by appealing for the continuation of efforts seeking to implement an active common policy on visas and on combating the counterfeiting of documents in order to guarantee better management of migratory flows. In this context, I shall not hide from the Chamber the fact that the Commission would prefer a legal basis which is based on the first Pillar. This could be in accordance either with No 2, Article 62, or under Article 66 of the EC Treaty.
But, of course, the fact that we prefer a legal basis which is based upon the first Pillar does not exclude the possibility of using this instrument in the battle against cross-border crime, particularly in order to maintain police cooperation between Member States.
In any event, the Commission would like to say that, from our point of view, we agree with the rapporteur’s analysis, according to which, in the long term, this instrument that we are discussing today will have to be integrated into a much larger system which will make the exchange of documents in general possible. I would therefore like to remind you that, at the time the FABO (Archiving and Image Exchange System) was adopted, the Commission, had already announced that it would take the necessary measures to guarantee its management. For reasons of consistency and even to save resources, the Commission intends shortly to put forward proposals to this effect, that is, proposals that will seek the integration of the exchange of counterfeit or falsified documents, the object of the present proposal, into a broader system of technical cooperation that will implement the exchange of information on all kinds of document-related fraud.
This more advanced system of technical cooperation will thus decisively contribute to citizens’ safety and to the fight against organised crime, improving the monitoring of our external borders in terms of migratory flows and cross-border criminal activity. And, as a consequence, it will increase confidence throughout the Union in travel documents.
In this way, we will be creating conditions which will allow us to safeguard the security of the Union’s citizens, the monitoring of illegal immigration flows and also the fight against cross-border crime."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples