Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-18-Speech-3-138"
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"Mr President, thank you for this opportunity to give an account of this very important area of work in which my dear colleague Commissioner Vitorino has been extremely active ever since he started, and in which I believe we are starting to reap rewards of which I am pleased to give an account. With the Treaty of Amsterdam, it was decided that various measures on asylum and immigration should be taken within five years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, that is, 1 May 2004.
As regards the proposal on long-term residence status, on 15 October 2002 the Council discussed a number of outstanding political issues. A certain amount of progress has been made in this area under the Danish Presidency, but a number of crucial issues remain – including the right to a certain form of free movement. The Council will work towards meeting the deadline laid down in Seville for adoption of the proposal.
At the same time, an open debate was held in the Committee on Justice and Home Affairs on 15 October 2002 on the Commission’s proposal for a directive on the conditions for entry and residence by third-country nationals for study purposes. Parliament has been consulted in all these cases, and Parliament’s statements have been incorporated, or will be incorporated, into the basis for the Council’s decision. The Council considers it very important that Parliament be involved in this area, to which the codecision procedure does not yet apply.
The Council looks forward to even closer cooperation with Parliament in the area of asylum following the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice.
I hope that I have, in this way, given you a comprehensive status report as regards the results achieved within the area of asylum and immigration policy. I believe that, overall, it conveys a positive picture. I agree that matters have proceeded too slowly. I know that the Commissioner felt this too, as indeed I myself did, when I sat on the relevant committee here in Parliament. Though I say so myself, I think that the Council has picked up speed, that we have eventually started to see quite a number of results and that we have started to live up to our own aims.
It is important that the deadlines are met. Asylum and immigration policy is of great significance for the people concerned, and it is important that we achieve results and find the balance that I spoke about in the introduction to my speech.
Mr President, I could have spoken for much longer, since in reality there are a great many initiatives – for example, in the area of border controls, in which a full 17 initiatives have been implemented – which I could have talked about for a long time, but everything must come to an end, so I will stop here and let the Members’ contributions decide what we will discuss in more detail in the hour ahead.
As we know, the European Council repeated and reinforced its desire for action in these areas in Tampere in October 1999, in Laeken in December 2001 and in Seville in June of this year. In Seville, specific priorities were devised along with deadlines for adoption of the individual legal acts. We have not simply met these deadlines; we have gone even further. As was stated in the Seville conclusions, the Council must find the right balance between, on the one hand, an integration policy for immigrants who have settled lawfully in the Member States of the Union and an asylum policy that complies with the international conventions – first and foremost the Geneva Convention of 1951 – and with the efforts required, in particular the efforts to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking.
The implementation of the Seville conclusions has been a task of the Danish Presidency. This applies also to the issue of combating illegal immigration and administering the external borders. Seventeen different projects and initiatives have been implemented with a view to strengthening border controls at both sea and land borders and at airports. In addition, a general dispatch programme and a specific plan for the return to Afghanistan have been adopted. These two were approved a couple of weeks ago.
With regard to asylum policy, substantial progress has been made in respect of implementation of the Treaty of Amsterdam objectives and the priorities set in Seville. The European Fund for Refugees was established back in September 2000, and in July 2001 a directive was adopted on minimum standards of temporary protection in cases of mass influx of displaced persons.
Further progress has been made on the area of asylum under the Danish Presidency. There is now agreement in the Council on the Dublin II regulation, which is expected finally to be adopted. This was the particular task to be achieved under the Danish Presidency. This task has been achieved; there is political unanimity. There is possibly one more parliamentary reservation, but I am sure that we will be able to adopt the Dublin II regulation – possibly as soon as tomorrow, when there is a Council meeting in Brussels.
The Commission’s proposal for minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers is similarly expected to be adopted at the Council meeting tomorrow. Over the past six months intensive negotiations have taken place concerning the Commission’s proposal to set minimum standards for the recognition of third-country nationals and stateless persons as refugees or persons in need of subsidiary protection.
Substantial progress has been made, and there is now political unanimity on the definition of a refugee and political unanimity on the definition of subsidiary protection. This unanimity is based on the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. We have achieved political unanimity on virtually all of Articles 1-19 concerning the basic terms used in refugee law. All that remains is the issue of the rights of refugees and of persons with subsidiary protection, which is why we can expect the proposal to be adopted by the summer at the latest, as was decided in Seville. The things on which agreement has been reached are some of the difficult things. Some might say: that is all very well, but where is the skill in adopting something based on conventions that have already been in force for a long time? The answer is: it is skilful because it means that from now on these conventions must be observed in every country, and that includes the new Member States that we decided just last Friday to bring into the Union. Moreover, there is a big difference between having conventions and having directives. The difference is that the Commission has much greater authority when it comes to considering whether the directives are being complied with, and finally there is also the possibility of going to Court if countries breach the conventions. The answer to the question that I myself asked is therefore: it makes an incredible difference that the standards of these conventions are now being introduced in the form of directives.
At the Council meeting in October we had an open debate on the Commission’s revised proposal on minimum standards for asylum procedures at which the ministers of the Member States contributed various comments on the proposal. This proposal, too, will be adopted by the end of 2003.
As far as immigration policy is concerned, the Seville conclusions state that the Council must approve the Commission’s proposal for provisions on family reunification and long-term residence status by June 2003. Substantial progress has been made in the negotiations on the revised proposal for a directive on family reunification – the proposal that was submitted by the Commission in May this year – and it is expected that it will also be possible to adopt this by the deadline set in Seville, that is, by June 2003."@en1
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