Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-19-Speech-4-590-000"
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"en.20120419.23.4-590-000"2
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"Madam President, I should like to start by pointing out, in connection with what has already been said, that we Greeks are an hospitable race and we have proven over the years that we stand by our fellow men, wherever they are from, and respect their human rights. However, I must emphasise, in response to the comments and criticism made by my fellow members, that the family of the man who was murdered by illegal immigrants at six in the morning a few months ago, as he was taking his pregnant wife to the maternity clinic to give birth, also has rights.
I read the letter sent yesterday by the French and German Ministers for the Interior asking for the facility to introduce emergency border controls and the heads of state have frequently referred in the past to reductions in the numbers of immigrants they wish to receive in their country.
Allow me to emphasise the following in response to these comments: when you do not want people to break into your house, you do not lock the sitting room door or the kitchen door. You lock the front door, you secure the main entrance. That is the solution. On the question of illegal immigration in Europe, we must apply the simple logic that we apply in our own homes. In this case, Europe is our home and the main entrance is the external borders of Europe. If you ask Frontex or any other competent authority, they will tell you that the main gateway for illegal immigration into Europe is, as we have already heard, the Greek-Turkish border.
Again as we have already heard, we need solidarity in Europe, we need funds, know-how and the human resources to strengthen and guard our borders more effectively. At the same time, however, we urgently need to demand that Turkey put a stop at long last to its insulting tolerance of gangs and traffickers taking advantage of the fact that no visa is required in order to enter Turkey from numerous neighbouring countries and, of course, take back the illegal immigrants who arrive in Europe via its territory.
It is high time that the refoulement agreement was completed and, as regards people seeking international protection, we need – as we have already heard – a fairer distribution of responsibilities for examining their applications; I am referring, obviously, to changes to Dublin II. If you tell me that other Member States have similar problems, I will tell you that you are mistaken. Around 400 illegal immigrants a day do not enter your countries; and that is based solely on Frontex data, solely on the number of arrests. In reality, the number is even higher. In your countries, you do not have a far right party standing on the hustings every day, because we are in the midst of an electoral campaign, proposing that mines – I repeat mines – should be placed along our land borders with Turkey and I wonder if you often hear proposals in your country that everyone should be entitled to carry a gun. Europe delayed drastically in taking decisions and measures on the debt crisis in Greece. Let it not repeat its error on illegal immigration."@en1
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