Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-15-Speech-3-052"
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"en.20000315.2.3-052"2
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"Mr President, I would like to congratulate Mr Belder on his sound report which deals with the fight against racism, xenophobia and antisemitism in the candidate countries. This all revolves around the kind of philosophy on man and society people take their inspiration from, and Mr Belder has presented his in no uncertain terms. The report is based on the notion of the unity of the human species, a Christian teaching which forms a firm barrier against any lapses of a racist nature. Man could be seen as being created in the image of God. This should make it impossible to see one’s fellow man as a threat or to harm his dignity. Mr Belder quite clearly does not pursue the ideology, which is termed conservative by some, which defends the identity of communities against cultural influences from outside. An ideology of this kind, which overestimates the sense of community, contains insufficient guarantees against tendencies towards discrimination. I condemn such a conservative ideology.
The candidate Member States expect the European Union to be a constitutional community based on the common acceptance of values which are mostly of a Jewish-Christian origin. It is only logical that we should observe these values. This does not always accord with their and our gut reactions but that is – like it or not – the trademark of sound principles. They do not always turn out to be to our advantage. People have to overcome their fears and short-term interests. We need to help the candidate Member States in a critical, yet constructive, way and not be afraid to call a spade a spade. The Belder report contains a few concrete pointers in this respect. Churches, trade unions, women’s organisations, occupational training courses and other educational institutions, in particular, play a decisive role in this. My Group did not have any reason to table any more amendments.
With regard to Mrs Ludford’s report, I belong to a minority in my Group who do not consider the report’s shortcomings serious enough to vote against it. It is true that proposals on voting rights for foreigners do not fit in at all in a report on xenophobia, but we do agree on the principle of drafting a recommendation in this respect. I have subscribed to this practice in the Netherlands for some 25 years, starting with the South Moluccans. I have no problem at all with providing them with government jobs. This may not be an ideological issue for me, but if you have a look at the EU delegations abroad, they are teeming with foreigners in EU service, even in sensitive functions. Governments do well to give ethnic minorities a visible presence in police forces, for example. In my opinion, it is extremely impractical to restrict the options in this respect, and I certainly do not want to see this become a requirement. What interest would be served in doing so? If the Ludford report is not changed for the worse by amendments, the minority which I represent here will vote for this report."@en1
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