Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-04-Speech-1-067"
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"en.20020204.5.1-067"2
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"Mr President, I should like to say a few words on the Ludford report on the rights of long-term residents. My apologies for missing the first few minutes of this debate but, amongst a number of problems today, I was held up in the passport queue at the airport. Ahead of me were two UK passport holders but, being of Asian origin, they were being subjected to what I consider to be quite unacceptable levels of interrogation. Colleagues around the House will know that is all too typical at customs points all around Europe.
My apologies also to Baroness Ludford. Mr Medina said earlier that some of the amendments that went through committee weakened the Commission's original proposal. It was due, in part, to the lack of numbers on my own side that these amendments went through in committee, so I apologise for that.
We should strive as far as possible to give all long-term residents the same rights as EU citizens. We should reject the PPE-DE amendments which seek to classify long-term residents as somehow second-class citizens. As Mrs Roure said, we should encourage people to integrate and I support their efforts to learn languages. But using an individual's progress in language as a criterion as to whether to grant long-term status is discriminatory. If the ability to speak your home nation's language properly was generally used as a measure of the right of residency, I can think of a lot of people back home who would not have the right to live there! Other parts of this report, which state that proof of adequate retirement cover is a prerequisite for third-country nationals obtaining some rights or the same rights, are equally subjective. We cannot invite people to the European Union only to say "pay your taxes here, but do not expect any social services or social benefits in return". That is perpetuating a second-class citizen status.
Two hundred years ago our ancestors charged around the world, colonising and abusing distant countries. We have a right and a duty now to set society straight and to put our own house in order. We must urge all Member States to educate our own citizens much more fully as to the benefits and positive advantages of having an integrated society. In a few years there will come a time when new EU Member States will be crying out for third-country nationals to come to help them with their economies and to fill employment vacancies. We must have things sorted out by then."@en1
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