Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-17-Speech-4-156"
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"en.20000217.7.4-156"2
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"I would like to begin by congratulating the honourable Member on the way in which he introduced this extremely important debate. I want to make it clear at the outset that the Commission unreservedly condemns the dreadful acts of violence at El Ejido against the immigrant workers of the region. We express our support for the families and friends of the victims. President Prodi and Commissioner Diamantopoulou have both issued separate statements. Naturally I completely endorse what they have said.
It was especially moving to hear the remarks from Members of Parliament who come from the region about what has happened, uncharacteristically, in a part of Spain that I know reasonably well.
Racist and xenophobic acts are wholly unacceptable within our Community, wherever they take place. They fly in the face of the very principles on which – as Mr Havel said yesterday – the European Union was founded: principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights. Of course progress has been made in recent years but we still have to work together towards a climate of tolerance in which racism and xenophobia are regarded as completely beyond the pale, completely unacceptable, while at the same time we deal very robustly with incidents such as the ones we are discussing this afternoon.
We need, in our judgement, to focus on a package of measures including: first, the introduction of effective, anti-discrimination legislation at Union level; second, implementation of a common immigration policy with regard to the nationals of non-Member States to promote, in practical terms, the integration of the immigrant population in Member States’ societies; third, the introduction of measures to combat social exclusion.
The European Union has already laid the basis for Community legislation on combating discrimination on the grounds of race. The insertion of Article 13, which was referred to during the debate, dealing with non-discrimination in the Treaty establishing the European Community, is one of the most significant changes of the last revision of the Treaties. Since the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force the Commission has presented a package of proposals for the implementation of Article 13 including, in particular, a proposal for a directive on the application of the principle of equal treatment regardless of race or ethnic origin. This proposal is under examination by the Council and the European Parliament. The Commission hopes very much that this stage will soon be complete.
The conclusions of the Tampere special European Council, as Mr Hernandez Mollar said, clearly illustrated the will of the Heads of State and Government as regards the introduction of a common policy on immigration and the principles on which it should be based, with
on the Union’s policy on the respect and promotion of the rights of migrants.
At Tampere the Heads of State and Government also emphasised the importance of approximating national legislation on conditions for admission and residence of third country nationals based on a shared assessment of the economic and demographic developments in the Member States as well as the situation in the countries of origin. The European Council also considered it important to step up the prevention of illegal immigration. Its objective here is to secure the rights of victims of criminal networks organising illegal immigration, with particular reference to the rights of women and children. Those who organise illegal immigration should be prosecuted with the utmost vigour. The word that is used about them in Chinese society is ‘snake-heads’. It seems to me a fitting description of them.
Let me also draw attention to the work on drawing up a European Union charter on fundamental rights, which has now reached the drafting stage. Those rights are, by definition, universal. The charter will extend to third country nationals in Member States even though certain rights will be reserved to nationals of Member States of the Union.
The El Ejido incidents were shocking, as several Members have said in their speeches. But trying to take something positive from them, I hope they will spur us on to translate our aspirations about tolerance, fairness and freedom into real and effective policies that will help to transform the lives of all those families and individuals in the European Union who cry out for our understanding and our help and who deserve it, not at some indefinite moment in the future, but here today."@en1
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