Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-213"
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"en.20000615.9.4-213"2
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"In 1993 the Federal Republic of Germany watered down the right to political asylum in its constitution, thus sealing its borders against immigration by asylum-seekers. Germany has virtually ceased to grant asylum. Refugees are socially and legally marginalised or driven into the world of illegal immigrants.
I reject the extension of a fortress Europe and I accordingly reject the resolution on “common standards on asylum procedures”.
The aim of the Schmitt report is to extend this degrading and inhumane system to the entire European Union. It is precisely this system that is to serve as the basis for the “common standards on asylum procedures”. The problems of asylum legislation are not addressed in the Schmitt report. There is not a single word about inhumane pre-expulsion detention centres. Nor is there a word of criticism about social discrimination against refugees, which in Germany takes place under the Law on Benefits for Asylum-Seekers.
Mr Schmitt’s report omits to mention that refugees suffer from discrimination in the job market. In Germany, they are categorically forbidden to work. The rapporteur does not even mention the invasions of personal privacy or violations of data protection rights that are part of daily life for asylum-seekers. Thanks to “Eurodac” and the “Schengen Information System”, no other group of people is as closely monitored as refugees. They have become the first “transparent people”.
Mr Schmitt’s report does not offer any potential solutions to all these problems. Instead, the rapporteur complains that people “wrongfully lay claim” to the right of asylum in Europe. Since the change in the right to asylum, many refugees no longer have any legal claim to asylum. It was, and remains, totally legitimate to want to live somewhere other than your place of birth. Framing this right and creating optimum conditions for it should be a key priority for this Parliament! Instead, the statements in the report help to discredit and criminalise asylum-seekers.
With regard to accepting asylum-seekers, the Schmitt report demands “burden sharing” within the EU. Asylum-seekers are accordingly denigrated as being a burden. How can a humane asylum and refugee policy which meets the needs of refugees be based on a fundamental assumption of this kind?
Furthermore, the Schmitt report welcomes agreements whereby third countries would promise to readmit rejected asylum-seekers. These are an instrument of a fortress Europe policy which has nothing in common with a humane refugee policy. Such readmission agreements can lead to people seeking protection being pushed back to their countries of origin, and make it easier for EU Member States to refuse asylum.
Mr Schmitt’s report also supports the concepts of “safe third countries” and “safe countries of origin”. These concepts are responsible for victims of political persecution failing to obtain asylum in Germany, that is to say whenever they enter via “safe third countries” or come from a “safe country of origin”. These instruments obstruct fair and equitable asylum procedures, and they should therefore be rejected and abolished as quickly as possible.
The European Parliament must make proposals that take account of the interests of refugees and asylum-seekers in the European Union. We must press for an end to the policy of “fortress Europe”, of the weakening of the right of asylum and of undermining the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Everyone seeking refuge in the EU must have access to a just and fair reception procedure.
Unfortunately, Mr Schmitt’s report goes in the opposite direction. It reinforces the fortress Europe policy and advocates further restrictions on long-term protection of refugees and asylum-seekers."@en1
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