Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-11-Speech-2-039"
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"en.20030211.2.2-039"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposal being examined today is aimed at establishing a harmonised legal framework for the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals. On this subject, it has to be stated that the European Union is still a very weak vessel. We can only regret the hypocrisy of European policies. While all countries see development aid as a means of combating illegal immigration, cooperation budgets are reduced and, with not one bit of responsibility accepted for training, there are no qualms about participating in the brain drain. There is no hesitation in cherry-picking the most promising immigrants, or those who serve our interests. As for the others, the re-admission clauses in the cooperation agreements are used in order all the better to expel those who have no papers but who are already settled in their social and professional lives and participating fully in the construction of Europe. Without a thought for the future of immigrants or their protection or even for the respect of their fundamental rights to health, education and accommodation, the economic and demographic needs of the Member States are satisfied by making use of controlled immigration that is liable to be ruthlessly exploited and manipulated and that mainly serves to make up for the labour shortage and to compensate for the demographic imbalance.
Yes, Mrs Terrón i Cusí is right. The immigration issue must be part of an overall, long-term vision of the EU’s policy as a community. In this context, there is good reason for tackling the issues relating to the management of migration flows. These include essential policy on visas, policy on unifying families – particularly in relation to the rights associated with European citizenship – and the new definition of development aid, implying genuine cooperation. Although one of the Tampere conclusions is about ensuring equitable treatment for third-country nationals, this objective proves to be far from having been achieved when closer attention is given not only to the conditions of entry and residence but also to citizens’ rights, particularly freedom of movement, the right to live as part of a family and those rights that should be linked to residence rather than nationality.
If European legislation enables workers from third countries to be turned into cheap labour or a kind of cannon fodder on the field of insecure employment, the European Union will lose all the credibility that it has built up over many years through its programmes to combat forms of discrimination, programmes that it is duty-bound to defend on the basis of its ideals of justice and freedom. Everyone knows that a citizens’ Europe cannot be built upon forms of discrimination that give rise to injustice and exclusion and that engender racism. It is therefore our responsibility to work for a humanitarian and Community-based policy on immigration, and one that respects fundamental rights and reaffirms immigration as an opportunity for Europe."@en1
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