Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-18-Speech-3-145"
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"en.20021218.7.3-145"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I think that what has been said on this subject is very important. Furthermore, I wholeheartedly support the comments made by my fellow Member, Mrs Terrón i Cusí. I believe that, although we set the objective of harmonisation with the Treaty of Amsterdam and we took a huge step forward at Tampere, thanks, amongst other things, to Commissioner Vitorino’s involvement, we took two steps back with the Seville European Council. Because, rather than talking about a global harmonisation policy, about a policy which will take proper account of all the disparities, all the complex points of existing laws, and which will bring about harmonisation, everything is focused on the issue of illegal immigration instead. What was proposed at Seville was very disturbing, because if we had carried the Seville proposals through to their logical conclusion, we would have imposed sanctions on the countries of the South that are already suffering from famine, war and violence. We would have imposed sanctions on them to force them to take back their nationals. This shows that we understand nothing: we do not understand that those who migrate do not leave their country out of pleasure: they leave because they are victims of violence and poverty.
There is another issue that concerns me as well, Commissioner, that of the ‘brain drain’ affecting the countries of the South. Today, as we know, nobody objects to admitting young IT professionals. Nobody objects to hiring young students either. However, when it comes to the question of the immigration of regular and regulated flows, we will no longer accept anyone. We fall back into the trap of these old fantasies or, quite simply, of meaningless phrases such as zero immigration or ‘wide-open’ borders. In seeing people come to our countries and fall into the hands of slum landlords we clearly find the great liberal ideal which drives some of us. .
I shall conclude by also saying that I am shocked to see that the majority of immigration policies are dealt with by the Home Affairs Ministers. I think that this issue must be a part of a co-development policy, since it does not stop at sanctions. We know that, today, the UK army can turn people away and we know that there are refugee camps in France. In my view, therefore, cancelling third world debt, Commissioner, and helping development with a good governance policy appear to be solutions that we must not disregard if we want to have a fairer and more humane immigration policy."@en1
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