Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-21-Speech-2-222"
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"en.20090421.24.2-222"2
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"−
If I had to sum up my report in two lines I would say, firstly, the European Parliament is strongly in favour of a common policy on immigration, and secondly, that Parliament does not want a fragmented immigration policy anymore. Rather, it wants a coherent one, because only a coherent policy can be effective.
I say this now with stronger conviction, in light of the recent case that took place these past few days, which saw the ship
save 154 immigrants found in international seas. This case highlights the need for a common policy. In fact, this underscores the price that we are being forced to pay because of the lack of a sound common policy. What price? The price being that everyone shrugs off their responsibility and places it on the shoulders of others, and while we are busy pointing fingers at each other, there are people who are drowning and dying every day in front of our very eyes.
It is a disgrace that a country of a population 60 million uses its laws in an attempt at brushing off its responsibility onto a country with a population of less than half a million. I augur that this was simply an isolated case, and that the Italian minister from the
was playing to his audience a few weeks before the European Parliament elections. These political gimmicks are easy to spot but this does not make them acceptable. I would like to laud the constructive spirit that the Maltese and Italian Prime Ministers favoured when they intervened to solve the
situation. Thanks to their intervention, reason triumphed over dramatic antics. Common sense prevailed over intransigence and respect for the law reigned over the law of the jungle.
I hope that, owing to the
incident, we all come to understand that while it is easy to shrug off one’s responsibility onto others and to accuse each other of wrong doing, the easy path does not lead to solutions. It is the path to a truly European policy that leads to a solution, even though it may be harder.
There are six main points to my report. Firstly, that we must put a stop once and for all to the human tragedy that we are facing because of illegal immigration; secondly, that the burden sharing mechanism found in the immigration pact has to be implemented without delay and that it must be converted into a binding legal instrument; thirdly, greater emphasis must be placed on the return of immigrants who have no right to remain on European territory; fourthly, that every agreement concluded between the European Union and a third country must also include the issue of immigration; fifth, that the FRONTEX agency must be strengthened, not only financially, but even more importantly in resources; and finally, that we must be tougher in our battle against organised crime.
To conclude, we managed to reach compromises on several points in this report. Unfortunately there is still one pending point that was entered due to a majority formed within the Socialist Group on the immigrants’ right to vote. This was not something I could accept. Therefore, I have presented an alternative resolution to the report; that is, to substitute the reference to the right to vote with a compromise that comprises a re-wording."@en1
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