Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-06-Speech-3-039"
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"en.20000906.2.3-039"2
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"Mr President, there has thankfully been a change in European Community law over the last 30 years from freedom of movement of persons being seen as purely an economic issue – functional mobility – to it being seen as a personal right. This has meant a lot of rhetoric about a citizen's Europe but not much change in the mentality or administrations of the Member States, as Mrs Wallis has pointed out.
In saying that, I am not overlooking the economic benefits of free movement. Mrs Boumediene-Thiery's report points out – and I congratulate her for its quality – that facilitating mobility promotes dynamism and economic competitiveness. So why does the Right ignore this? But the real bottom line for Liberals is whether the Member States believe in and respect the notion of European citizenship, not only allowing the citizens of a Member State and their families to move around but also conferring such rights, to the greatest extent possible, on legally resident third-country nationals and their families – which unfortunately were not covered by the Commission report.
It is very aggravating when the Council of Ministers and individual governments wring their hands about the low turnout in European elections, launch campaigns with balloons and plastic bags about people's Europe and seek to win citizens' votes in referendum campaigns, but still maintain obstructive red tape when those citizens have the cheek to assert their European legal right to move freely.
Those rules are far too complicated anyway. We need a complete overhaul to streamline and make crystal clear the unimpeded exercise of free movement. It is not too much to ask. As Mrs Wallis said, it should be as easy for people to cross borders as it is for widgets or potatoes."@en1
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