Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-19-Speech-3-042"
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"en.20000119.2.3-042"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, you have presented us with a very ambitious programme. My Group hopes that you will, in fact, be able to complete most of it, especially in the area of internal security. I should like to raise two points which I consider are particularly important. First: optimisation of the Schengen system of security at external borders. Secondly: improving asylum policy and combating illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings.
I should like to start by referring to an actual situation in Belgium at its external borders. We all know what has happened. Surprisingly, internal border controls have been introduced in Belgium, almost overnight, causing hour-long jams and problems with both passenger and freight cross-border traffic, angering citizens and damaging the economy.
The reason was the imminent legalisation of some 75 000 illegal immigrants who have been waiting for a decision on their asylum applications in Belgium for three or four years or who have already been illegal residents in Belgium for five or six years. I should like to point out that the measures taken by Belgium comply with the law and the Treaty. But they also show that this is not the answer to the problems which have arisen and that we must find new approaches and that, in the final analysis, the answer lies in a community arrangement. For the rest, Belgium took a similar decision here as France, Italy and Luxembourg have done in the past. The Council is responsible here, hence our requests.
What I should like to see, what we should all like to see is for you to optimise Schengen as a security instrument, for you to re-regulate the temporary reintroduction of internal border controls, for you to give Member States preliminary information, together with information on how long such controls will last, and for you to implement all this only in absolutely exceptional situations and for you to implement fast and complete communitisation.
Secondly, fast, uniform asylum procedures do, of course, need to be introduced and EURODAC needs to be introduced immediately as a matter of urgency, so that the jurisdiction of the states can be laid down and so that we have efficient instruments against illegal immigrants."@en1
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