Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-204"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000615.9.4-204"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:translated text |
"(
) President, the Commission working document ‘Towards common standards on asylum procedures’ is a short, fairly general text which, according to the introduction, is designed to launch a discussion following the adoption of the Amsterdam Treaty which, in its new Article 63, once again provides for the adoption of a whole series of joint European standards applicable to refugees and displaced persons.
We have good reason to be surprised at this introduction to the subject. Why launch a discussion? We had thought, quite logically, that all the discussions had taken place before the Treaty of Amsterdam was adopted and that the federalists knew where they were going.
In fact, on reading the Commission document and the report by the European Parliament, we see that this was not the case. Yes, the need to harmonise asylum standards is broadly recommended by these texts. But, first and foremost, the reasoning seems weak. For example, it condemns the disparities in the way refugees are treated from one country to the next but does not provide examples. There may be perfectly legitimate reasons for these disparities, relating to the special features of a country, its culture or its links with former colonies.
In reality, on closer inspection, there is only one serious reason – at least so it seems – for harmonising asylum standards: because abolishing internal border controls under the Treaty of Amsterdam, and that includes as far as third country nationals are concerned, demolishes the whole delicate legal balance and risks causing entirely uncontrolled secondary movements of refugees.
So, in fact, we are currently trying to solve a problem largely created by the Treaty of Amsterdam itself and, what is more, we are going to solve it to our disadvantage as it is clear that asylum standards cannot be harmonised from the bottom up – for who would dare? – but rather towards the top with all the in-draughts normally caused by this type of policy. We risk being caught up in the system. In order to escape, we can only invite the governments to exercise the utmost caution, retain as much power as possible, and interpret Article 63 of the Treaty of Amsterdam narrowly."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"- Schmitt Report (A5-0123)"1
"Berthu (UEN)."1
"FR"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples