Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-20-Speech-3-023"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021120.1.3-023"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, President of the Commission, I would like to start by apologising to President Prodi for the improvised nature of this speech, which will be a series of brief reflections on what I have read or heard.
Clearly, over and above the indications given in the work programme for 2003, we cannot expect the Commission to do everything immediately and, ideally, properly, in the space of just one year, but it is right that guidelines should be laid down, as has been done. I feel that, at least in general terms, these guidelines are sufficiently acceptable.
I listened to your speech, President Prodi, and I very much appreciated some of the points which you stressed with your usual enthusiasm, particularly the social considerations, which are very relevant at a time when we are discussing security, solidarity and measures which could even include a new direction for the world of work.
Therefore, if I may, I would like to call upon the Commission and the Community institutions in general to reflect either formally or informally on a number of policies which I believe are of vital importance for the future of Europe, particularly for the future of an enlarged Europe which is genuinely united as regards its fundamental principles.
Well then, yesterday, we held lengthy formal and informal discussions with many members of parliaments whose countries are aspiring, if I may use that expression, to become a full members of Europe, and, together, we discussed our desire to work towards achieving a Europe which is genuinely, essentially and, ideally, politically united. However, in order to be politically united and cohesive, Europe needs to address issues of momentous historical importance transparently.
Mr President, I believe we need to reflect very deeply on the issue of immigration. There can never be enough discussion of the subject of legal immigration, just as there can never be enough discussion on the integration of immigrants. I often reflect – and I still do not know the answer – on the problem of integrating immigrants into society, and I sometimes wonder whether integration is not another, new form of oppression of cultures which are different from ours and should therefore be fully respected.
One of the speakers mentioned the subject of an interesting debate just now, which took place both in Florence and in my own town, Lecce, a town where we have to have no fear of dialogue or the presence of people who do not think in the same way as we do. Here, too, we must listen to what is being said about globalisation, about new forms of poverty which genuinely exist, on north and south, east and west. We must reflect still more – I reiterate – on the way we may, to some extent, be oppressing immigrant or emigrant peoples which, I imagine, would like to return to their homelands and regain their identities and their cultural roots, but which certainly do not want to go back to economic poverty. Therefore, if we have to take economic measures, it is essential that we ensure that these do not lead to the oppression of cultures.
With regard to this, therefore, I would like to draw the attention of the Commission to the issues of immigration and employment, in order to avoid employment, rather than being a uniting factor, becoming grounds for fresh dispute between the immigrants in our States and those who need to convert their business activities. Consider the industrial crisis in our country, President Prodi, and the resulting need to retrain the work force through substantial, genuinely incisive, large-scale training measures. Training is also something which depends on culture, and it must be promoted if it is true that Europe wants to continue to grow, as you maintain."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples