Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-04-Speech-2-126"
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"en.20000704.5.2-126"2
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"Mr President, 58 Chinese immigrants who arrived at Dover, in the hope of a better life, have died in horrific conditions, surrounded by crates of tomatoes. I, like all of you, am deeply shocked. This crime, however, is a daily occurrence at European Union borders. Let us not forget Yagine and Fodé, the two boys from Guinea, who wanted to see Brussels last summer. Since the beginning of this year alone, dozens of young people from the Maghreb have drowned trying to reach the Spanish coast. Fourteen Kurds died of asphyxiation in the hold of a burning ship in Patras. Dozens of Albanians and Tunisians die en route to Italy. These are terrifying figures. They should be unacceptable in a European Union that prides itself on being based on the protection of human rights.
How then, can we put an end to this? That is the question. The debate that has opened as a result of the Dover tragedy has focused on the traffic in human beings and the eradication of the mafias that organise the criminal networks. The trade in smuggling human beings is undeniably flourishing. For a long time, we have known about the existence of criminal networks, such as the Chinese Triads, who make huge profits by transporting desperate people to countries that they are led to believe are paradises.
Mafia networks must therefore be harshly punished, but so must the people who exploit illegal labour, since no immigration networks exist without economic networks. As a result, in France, Chinese illegal immigrants are forced to work for years in sweat-shops to pay for their journey. These modern-day slaves supply a cheap labour force to whole sectors of the economy, and bosses are therefore free to move them around, even within the European Union.
The dogma of liberal globalisation has magnified the free movement of goods and capital, but is seeking to stop the free movement of people. Emigration, whether it is a result of political oppression or poverty, merely reflects global inequalities. It is a symptom of the ever-widening gulf that separates North and South, and the incentive to emigrate is all the stronger since images of Western prosperity are invading the screens of the third world.
It is true that the free movement established by the European Union is a fundamental right, but this is reserved for its own nationals. Nationals of third countries have seen their movement littered with traps, as a result of the Schengen agreement and the mirage of zero immigration. All of these factors have simply created new forms of illegal immigration.
A purely repressive European response to the issue of immigration would certainly consolidate Europe’s fortification mechanism, but this would be ignoring the most fundamental aspect, which is the uniting of efforts and sharing at global level. A seminar is certainly a good idea, Minister, but it should cover a common immigration policy based on the principle of freedom of movement, improving rights…"@en1
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