Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-360"
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"en.20100420.13.2-360"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the right to asylum is one of the European Union’s fundamental values and nobody dares question it publicly, in their speeches. Nevertheless, the reality of European policies and those of its Member States in this area raises questions.
It was in 1999 that the European Union started to harmonise its policies on the subject, and there seems today to be a sense of satisfaction at the spectacular fall in the number of asylum seekers. We in the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left could also be pleased about this if that figure reflected an improvement in the human rights situation across the world. We all know that it does nothing of the sort. Our debates will prove it, if necessary, when they take place on Thursday afternoon.
Since 2004, in particular, we have been seeing the downwards harmonisation of reception procedures and conditions. There are significant differences between countries’ practices, and we know that some of the applications have been outsourced and that, today, some asylum seekers no longer even have the opportunity to register their applications. Once again, the prize for the biggest reduction in the number of asylum applications goes to France. As a human rights activist in France, I am well placed to know what has caused these results. To have accompanied an asylum seeker just once to the services of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons is enough to know what the cause is. It is unbearable to watch the way in which these men and women are summoned to submit evidence of the acts of torture that they have suffered.
The proposal that we are examining today therefore seems to be a breath of fresh air. It helps improve the implementation of a European system on the right to asylum. It aims to promote practical cooperation between Member States, in particular, by improving access to accurate information on countries of origin, which is a good thing. The majority of the proposals made by Parliament at first reading have been adopted by the Council. We know that we owe this result mainly to the Swedish Presidency, and we are grateful to it. I would add that, in my opinion, Sweden is, as it were, a model, and I would very much like other states to align themselves with it in this area.
We have supported our rapporteur at both first and second readings in committee, and I too am keen to congratulate and thank her. We will do the same in plenary and we express our sincere hope that this small step forward will constitute a new turning point in European policy on this matter. We hope that, instead of Europe withdrawing into itself in what we in this House dare to call fortress Europe, we can instead welcome these men and women who have a right to asylum, as is proclaimed in the international treaties and in the European Convention on Human Rights, which we will soon be ratifying."@en1
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