Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-452"
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"en.20081217.26.3-452"2
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"Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, the acronyms Frontex and Eurosur remind us of a harsh reality that we have to combat, which is that of thousands of people who continue to arrive in Europe illegally every day, fleeing from poverty and in search of a better future. They are pushed on by enormous social and family pressures generated by the anticipation that they may send money back home. Regrettably, many of them pay for their European dream with their lives.
That, of course, means a substantial increase in its budget, but it reinforces the European dimension of the agency and it makes its material resources more readily available, particularly in the short term.
In addition, we call on the Commission to propose a review of its mandate in order to resolve the legal vacuum that hinders its action in maritime rescue and repatriation operations.
Ladies and gentlemen, without cooperating with the countries of origin, we will not be able to manage the migratory flows effectively. Experiments like the cooperation between Spain and Senegal have provided highly positive outcomes, which need to be scaled up to European level.
We therefore call on the Commission to include cooperation on immigration in all the agreements that it signs with third countries and to organise information campaigns with them on the risks of illegal immigration.
Frontex must be able to continue expanding working agreements and establishing cooperation with the countries of origin in accordance with its specific needs. It is also important to explore channels of cooperation with regional bodies, such as Mercosur or the Economic Community of West African States, which are governed by the principle of the free movement of people.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must bear in mind the fact that Frontex and Eurosur are not a panacea but valuable tools serving a European migration policy, the ultimate objective of which is that immigration should be a factor for development, both for the host countries and for the countries of origin, but most of all for the immigrants themselves.
Immigration cannot go on being a death trap. We must take steps to ensure that immigration stops being an obligation and becomes a right and a personal choice.
We who hold political responsibility in Europe must address this situation with a common response based on respect for the dignity and fundamental rights of the immigrants. We must open our borders to legal immigration and the integration of workers with rights and duties, and close them to illegal immigration, to criminal organisations and to traffickers of human beings.
For this task, we have Frontex and Eurosur, instruments that bring added value to the work of the Member States and reflect the necessary European spirit of cooperation and solidarity.
The objective that we are pursuing is the development of a European integrated management system for all the EU’s external borders, based on operational coordination and interoperability among national surveillance systems, because, when one route for illegal immigration is closed, criminal organisations set up another route in less than a week.
Ladies and gentlemen, we agree with the Commission’s approach, as outlined in the report by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
Now that the agency has taken its first positive steps, we must define its future role and its pace of development.
Ladies and gentlemen, Frontex works. The figures for the Hera operations in the Canary Islands and the thousands of lives saved in the Mediterranean confirm it, as do the improved coordination, the exchange of best practices and the specialist training provided in areas such as asylum, maritime law or fundamental rights.
So far, so good, but we must go further. Frontex needs to have adequate material and logistical resources to be able to carry out one-off joint operations as well as permanent surveillance missions in high-risk areas.
Some Member States speak of solidarity but do not practise it, which reduces the effectiveness of Frontex. In view of this situation, we call on the Commission and the Member States to choose one of two options: either we amend the Frontex Regulation to make solidarity mandatory, as in the RABIT Regulation, or we allow Frontex to purchase or hire its own equipment."@en1
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