Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-14-Speech-3-196"
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"en.20040114.4.3-196"2
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"Mr President, I would like first to thank Mr Moraes, who has managed to address such sensitive issues as immigration and integration by drawing up what is, over all, a satisfactory report. In view of the new demographic challenges that the European Union will have to confront in a few years’ time, the Commission and the rapporteur are right to present immigration as part, but only part, of the answer for Europe.
In view of the economic and social consequences of the ageing of the population, it is clear today that managed immigration will without a doubt avoid a slowing down in economic growth and a decline in our fellow citizens’ quality of life. However, I doubt that such managed immigration can take place, because obviously everyone aspires to a change of scenery and a better standard of living. Moreover, we sometimes encourage such flows by our votes; I am thinking in particular of Mrs Lambert’s report, report 1481, which extends our entire social security system to refugees and immigrants.
That being the case, we need a number of measures to facilitate and improve the reception and integration of aliens without penalising either the host country or the aliens who are moving lawfully on the territory of the European Union. One of the necessary conditions for successful integration is that immigrants should have access to the European Union’s employment market and we are all agreed on that.
It seems to me premature, however, in the context of a report on employment and integration, to give third country nationals the right to vote in local and European elections. As my fellow Member, the chairman of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, said, how can we imagine third country nationals voting in European elections when they do not have the right to vote in general elections in our countries? As for local elections, each of the Union’s 15 countries currently has its own practice in the matter of voting rights – nationality based on parentage or place of birth – and it is unthinkable today to imagine that the same legislation could be applied to all 15 countries of the Union by a vote taken so stealthily.
That is why I shall be voting for Amendment No 4, which notes that third country nationals have the right to vote in local elections in some countries but does not oblige the other Member States to do the same."@en1
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