Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-13-Speech-2-033"
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"en.20010313.5.2-033"2
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"Mr President, the Kirkhope report is not a contribution towards a progressive common policy on asylum and refugees. The obligation laid down in the Schengen Convention to return passengers, a practice that has failed and has quite rightly been condemned by church and human rights organisations, is to be extended and tightened. Airline staff are already being forced into the role of auxiliary police as a result of it. The Member States are simply creating the conditions that guarantee the profits of the gangs that engage in human trafficking.
If carriers who fail to meet their so-called obligations will in future be expected to pay a fine of up to EUR 5 000, one can imagine where this will lead. The EU will become even more of a community of closed doors. This is surely not the way in which we want to deal with refugees and immigrants in future. More than 2 000 people lost their lives last year on the external borders of the Union, according to the estimates of the anti-racist human rights organisation UNITED. This is a situation that is intolerable in the extreme.
If we want to go down the road of common European framework legislation in matters relating to asylum, then we must also see to it that asylum-seekers are able to come to us. Otherwise, any directive, even one that is formally based on the Geneva Convention on refugees, is not worth the paper it is written on and fundamentally violates the spirit of the Convention.
Please allow me to conclude with a remark about my own country. Unfortunately, the German Interior Minister today is one of the most important protagonists for a European policy of closed doors.
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Germany is blocking efforts in almost all areas to make refugee and immigration policy more humane. Every proposal from the Commission that moves in this direction is rejected by the German Interior Minister. A proposal like the one we have before us on the table today would undoubtedly be supported without reservation by Mr Schily, since he breathes the spirit of defensive measures and tightened controls.
I call upon all of you here not to allow the spirit of a Europe of closed doors and defences against people who seek our help to win the day. Vote against the Kirkhope report!"@en1
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