Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-010"
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"en.20050927.4.2-010"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner Frattini, ladies and gentlemen, what we are to vote on today is nothing less than one of the building blocks of the European Union. The European Union arose from the ruins of the Second World War, and its success is founded upon the lessons that we have learned from the experience of global war, of National Socialism and the dictatorships of the last century, not least in Eastern Europe, all of which obliged many Europeans, in order to save their own lives, to leave their homes and seek refuge in foreign countries. Today, people come to Europe seeking refuge from calamity and persecution. None of them have left their homelands lightly, for in fleeing they often take their lives in their hands. Their dream of a life in safety often ends, though, in reception centres where conditions are sometimes appalling, and then they are sent back to an allegedly safe country, such as Libya, without their individual situations being assessed. Are we trying to rid ourselves of every burden and responsibility as soon as possible? I get the impression that we, in Fortress Europe, are less interested in protecting the refugees than in doing the opposite and protecting ourselves from them. How, though, are we to discharge our historic responsibility if we do not give refugees an adequate opportunity to explain their reasons for coming here? How are we to be credible in defending European values if we deny those seeking protection access to legal processes? That there is the fear of asylum being abused is not a matter of doubt, but we must not allow that to induce us to betray our values. What is needed are common European minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, founded upon the rule of law and upon international conventions and obligations under international law such as the Geneva Convention on Refugees. The Council presented us with its proposal for this directive, for consultation purposes, only in November 2004, having already taken its decision. One might call this ‘uncooperative cooperation’, and it is something that we reject outright. What the Council has now presented us with is also a long way removed from the objectives formulated at Tampere in 1999, and one consequence of that is that the majority of us in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the advisory committees have come to the conclusion that the directive falls short of all expectations in that it makes no significant progress towards harmonisation, in that there are too many instances in which the Member States are allowed to retain their own legal arrangements.
There are in particular a number of points that give great concern as regards respect for internationally-recognised human rights and the principles of the law as it applies to refugees, and so we have proposed a number of vitally important amendments. For a start, we reject the concept, set out in Article 35a, of what are termed ‘super-safe third countries’, that is in itself an outstanding achievement in terms of global philosophy, favouring instead a modification of the concept of ‘safe third countries’ in Article 27, which, it is important to note, we want to be applicable only if the third state has ratified, and complies with, the Geneva Convention and other international human rights treaties, adhering in particular to the principle of non-refoulement provided for in the Geneva Convention on Refugees. The person seeking asylum must have the opportunity to set out the reasons why his or her safety cannot be guaranteed in the ‘safe third country’ or in his or her safe country of origin.
Secondly, we want to reinforce the asylum seeker’s right to an effective legal remedy in accordance with Article 38.
Thirdly, we call for the rights of children to be reinforced. Following on from the statement in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that every person under the age of 18 is to be regarded as a child, we have all – irrespective of our group allegiances – agreed that all relevant articles of the directive should be modified in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Fourthly, no asylum seeker should be arrested until such time as it is demonstrated that his or her incarceration is necessary, appropriate, and in line with the standards laid down in the international conventions. Asylum seekers should be detained only in institutions that are clearly distinguishable from prisons, and must be guaranteed access to proper legal advice, to properly trained and unbiased interpreters and to qualified medical personnel. Under no circumstances must unaccompanied children be interned as immigrants, nor must vulnerable persons such as victims of torture, traumatised persons, or persons with mental or physical handicaps, for whom the authorities should endeavour to find alternatives to internment.
The report that I have presented, which has been adopted by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, offers the opportunity to create Europe’s first body of asylum law, and a balanced and fair one too. Fear of Islamic terrorism and crime must not be used as a misguided excuse for a backwards-looking asylum policy. If we abandon the heart of asylum policy, we jeopardise human rights and take an axe to the pillars supporting that community of values that is the European Union. Fear is a poor basis for decision-making and hypocrisy is a reprehensible thing in politics. Human rights and human lives are at stake here, and neither we nor anyone else must forget that.
I am very pleased about Commissioner Frattini’s concession. I hope that those who decided, perhaps some considerable time ago, that they were going to vote against the report, will now reconsider their position. I again urge you to vote to adopt my report, which we also need for next year’s negotiations with the Council. I urge you to vote in favour of it for the good of all, and, not least, in remembrance of all those Europeans who were forced into exile by war, ethnic cleansing and persecution."@en1
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