Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-19-Speech-4-580-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120419.23.4-580-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, this is not the first time this issue has been raised. I believe that all the bodies – the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, the Agency for Fundamental Rights, civil society organisations – have, at some time or other, sounded the alarm. What is more, this alarm has been heard by the Commission. Greece has since launched a national asylum and immigration plan.
Today, however, there is no escaping the fact that the situation in the detention centres – and I have visited some in Greece – remains an insult to human dignity, that, since the start of the year, dozens of people have been killed at the Greek-Turkish border trying to cross the River Evros, and that NGOs are now seeing, within the context of the economic and social crisis in Greece, a sudden increase in racist attacks; they have recorded 63 cases in Athens and Patras, 18 of which involved police officers, during the last six months of 2011.
It is clear that, in the period leading up to the elections in Greece, we hear preposterous proposals and a surfeit of extremely xenophobic policies – which can only be described as anti-immigrant – like the proposal to build detention centres, but, in particular, the proposal to herd together migrants and asylum seekers suspected of being ill. We also hear political leaders characterise the issue of migrants as a time bomb for society and for the security of the country.
Confronted with this, of course, the European Union must respond with its values, its instruments and its principle of cooperation and solidarity. In this regard, it should nonetheless be said to the Member States that threatening Greece with expulsion from the Schengen area is an absolutely scandalous proposal, when, at the same time, the Member States openly regret that the Court prevents them from sending the asylum seekers back to Greece under the Dublin Regulation.
Frankly, this cowardice and this hypocrisy on the part of the Member States of the European Union cannot be tolerated, and the Commission has a great responsibility in this regard to guarantee our fundamental principles.
As far as Turkey is concerned, I believe we should try to look at the situation as it is. With regard to the Community readmission agreement, Turkey is calling for equal treatment. Yet this is absolutely a case of double standards, since there is no prospect of dialogue on the liberalisation of visas with Turkey …
and that, at this very moment, Turkey is welcoming thousands of refugees at the Syrian border. I therefore believe that we should stop passing the buck from one country to another and assume this fundamental responsibility jointly."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples