Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-12-Speech-3-068"
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"en.20051012.12.3-068"2
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".
Mr President, thank you for allowing me to reply to what has been an important and timely debate. I shall respond to a number of the remarks that have been made.
Let me begin by agreeing with Commissioner Figel’ that migration requires, as he described it, a balanced approach to protect the rights of those in need of protection and to combat illegal immigration. Mrs Klamt and Mrs Roure rightly expressed concerns about reports of migrants left in the deserts. This is clearly unacceptable and underlines the need to cooperate with and assist third countries to provide better migration management.
In a powerful contribution Mr Watson drew attention to the proximity and importance of Africa to the interests of the European Union. This matter was also brought up in the contributions by Mr Barón Crespo, Mr Cavada and Mr Brok. That of course is the case; it is a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree. That is why it is for me a matter of immense pride that in the course of this year the European Union has shown such leadership. This was shown ahead of the Gleneagles Summit – when decisions were taken effectively to double levels of bilateral international aid provided by European Union Member States; then once again at the Gleneagles Summit itself, where there was further action to secure multilateral debt write-off for many of the world’s highly-indebted poorest countries; and then as recently as September at the Millennium Review Summit, where leading European nations were seen to work in concert to ensure an agenda that was progressive in advancing the interests of the United Nations as we look ahead to the challenges of the coming century.
Mr Catania criticised the Council’s engagement with Libya, but on this point I am afraid I have to disagree with him. The Council does not share his view. The migration dialogue with Libya underlines the European Union’s expectations of Libya in areas such as human rights and we believe it is important to influence Libyan behaviour and commitment to human rights by comprehensive engagement.
I shall try and draw my remarks briefly to a conclusion because I am conscious of the constraints of time. As I said earlier, it is important that we realise that the problems faced by Spain, Italy and Malta are shared by the European Union as a whole. They are also problems for Europe’s neighbours like Libya and Morocco, and for countries in sub-Saharan Africa where the pressures of illegal migration are perhaps greatest.
The long-term solution lies in working in partnership. In the past the European Union’s engagement with countries outside the European Union to combat illegal immigration has frankly not been effective enough. That is now changing and the European Union is beginning to engage its collective weight to enhance cooperation and migration with source and transit countries. This will be a priority for future work under the United Kingdom Presidency, including when Foreign Ministers meet to discuss the issue this coming November.
However, I warn against over-simplification of the migration issue. The European Union’s policy on migration and asylum needs to be carefully balanced and carefully considered. It should not confuse the objective of stronger border controls that stop illegal immigration with the objective of protecting refugees, which is a fundamental value of our European Union.
We should push ahead with EU cooperation with third countries. This is the only way to avoid further human tragedies in the Mediterranean and establish managed migration that works in the interests of both the European Union and our neighbours."@en1
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