Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-10-Speech-1-084"
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"en.20000410.4.1-084"2
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"Mr President, it seems legitimate that the states of Europe should demonstrate solidarity in the event of a sudden, massive, exceptional influx of refugees driven by some external disaster, but what the Commission is proposing today is a different kettle of fish. The proposal is to establish a permanent European Fund distributing appropriations to assist Member States in managing their countries’ usual flow of refugees, genuine or not. This proposal raises many questions.
Are Member States themselves no longer capable of managing the refugees they receive in normal circumstances? How would their situation be improved by giving money to Brussels, only to have Brussels immediately give it back to them? Will some countries be net contributors and others, net recipients, and if so, which? The answers to these questions cannot be found anywhere in the reports passed on to us. We cannot even find a statistical table of the numbers of refugees currently residing in the various countries of Europe.
Once again we are being asked to take an important decision while being kept in the dark. It is all the more worrying that the planned system is liable in itself to exacerbate abuses since reducing the immediate costs for each State may lead to a reduction in its vigilance, ultimately increasing the overall cost for everyone. This is a pernicious effect which insurers are familiar with.
This risk is, in turn, all the greater since the proposed text is extremely vague when it comes to defining the type of person that qualifies as a refugee. There is, of course, the standard definition of refugee given in the 1951 Geneva Convention, but obviously all sorts of categories of displaced person can be added to the list, including persons accepted into the country in accordance not with international commitments but only with national legislation, decisions or practice.
In such conditions, the risk of things spiralling out of control and of financial abuse is very great indeed, Mr President, and the report itself even implies as much when it states that the planned appropriations, even though they still amount to EUR 36 million, are much less than the potential demand. The Union for a Europe of Nations Group considers that there is just one solution if we want to halt this risk: for each Member State to retain financial responsibility for the reception of refugees, and for European solidarity to be kept only for exceptional tragic circumstances."@en1
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