Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-338"
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"en.20081217.22.3-338"2
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"Mr President, the Presidency has answered some questions, and therefore I am going to try to be brief.
To conclude, I should like to say that what I feel is most important – what Mr Deprez was saying is right – is that we must not be guided by fears. We must recognise that, since the 11 September attacks, there has been this fear of terrorism that has meant that, at times, the protection of rights, individual freedoms and privacy has been lost sight of and that we must, I believe, keep a close eye on this balance. It is not by scorning fundamental rights, human rights and privacy that terrorism will be combated effectively. I believe that combating terrorism effectively really should be the aim.
And then, I would say, by way of conclusion, that, in the field of fundamental rights, our task is not just to establish texts but to ensure that they are applied. There must be a duty of care. Rest assured that, as far as the Commission and your Commissioner responsible for freedom, security and justice are concerned, I shall personally see to it that, at each and every level, we are truly vigilant in ensuring that European law is applied.
Firstly, I should like to pay tribute to what Mrs Roure said in opening our debate, in saying that, indeed, the Charter of Fundamental Rights has been able to unite social rights and civil rights. In my view, this is the positive contribution of this Charter, which we are – we hope – going to see incorporated into European law. It is truly the link between civil rights and social rights.
That being the case, I should like to answer some questions on minorities. We do not actually have any specific powers with which to concern ourselves with minority rights in the Member States but we can combat discrimination against people who belong to a minority. Personal discrimination falls within the scope of our fight against discrimination.
On the Roma community – I believe that the Presidency has responded on this – I should like to point out in fact that we organised the Roma Summit on 16 September. I myself had the opportunity to conclude this summit, and I must also tell you that, together with my colleague, Commissioner Špidla, we are making discrimination against Romani children one of our priorities.
Such discrimination is completely unacceptable, but it has taken Europe a long time to deal with these problems. The Member States have major responsibilities in this area, and it has taken them a long time to deal with them. It is true that, today, we are going to try to use all the means at our disposal to really spur on the integration of the Roma community.
That being said, we are also very anxious not to base our strategy on an exclusively ethnic approach to the Roma. Such an approach might well be counterproductive and would cancel out the benefits of dealing with the Roma problem across the board in all the European Union’s policies.
I also come to sexual differentiation. I honestly believe that the Presidency’s answer hit the nail on the head. It really is a duty of tolerance to respect and ensure respect for such sexual differentiation. It is quite clear that, on this point, there is this text on discrimination, but we must ensure that it is applied.
Furthermore, I wish to say that the Commission does not in fact intend to go and take a stand on behalf of the Member States concerning the organisation of family law. As you know, we have already had difficulty in establishing rules in relation to divorce. In particular, we cannot embark on an area that is left to unanimity.
Nevertheless, I would add that the law on the free movement of persons does, of course, oblige the Member States to recognise certain links that are contracted in another Member State and, in this respect, I can only repeat European law."@en1
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