Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-17-Speech-4-154"
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"en.20000217.7.4-154"2
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"Mr President, since the signature of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the European Union has had responsibility for combating racism and xenophobia. Two types of measure are required for this purpose. The first should seek the integration of people of non-European origin and the other should aim to organise immigration.
With regard to the first, the Commission has sent us a series of proposals, contained in two directives and an action plan, which aim to apply the following decision taken by the Heads of State and Government in Tampere. This states that ‘The European Union must ensure fair treatment of third country nationals who reside legally on the territory of its Member States. A more vigorous integration policy should aim at granting them rights and obligations comparable to those of EU citizens’. This is totally contrary to what we have seen and found recently in El Ejido where there are irregularities, labour exploitation and indecent living conditions, which have been condemned in the past.
I hope for prompt implementation of the measures to achieve integration. I also hope that the governments which produced such wonderful words in Tampere, including Spain, will work diligently to apply these.
I have less hope about the development of an effective and fair European policy in accordance with the statement made by the Council on immigration. The only proposal which has been made is for the directive on family reunification. This is a key issue, as we have seen recently in the media that there are many men on their own in El Ejido. Yet we do not know whether this has been accepted by the governments. Outside the Community arena, some governments are making efforts to renew their immigration policies. This is occurring in my country, despite the government, the party in power being the only one which does not like the new law on aliens.
The objective of combating racism and xenophobia, explained in the Treaties, should be the objective of all European institutions and politicians. On 28 February 1998 the European political parties, including the Spanish Popular Party, signed the Charter of European Political Parties for a Non-Racist Society. This requires coherent behaviour, yet local leaders of the Popular Party are throwing more fuel on the raging fire and boycotting the attempts of other institutions to put this out. The party to which the Mayor of El Ejido belongs should, according to the commitments signed in this Charter, act forcefully. It is only, as stated by Mr Hernández Mollar, through unity, responsibility and firmness that El Ejido, Spain and Europe will be able to overcome these events of which we are deeply ashamed."@en1
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