Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-11-Speech-2-035"
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"en.20030211.2.2-035"2
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".
Madam President, the Committee on Petitions gets a number of submissions to do with the lack of opportunities for immigration into Europe, and this is another reason why a directive on the subject is needed. Commissioner Vitorino, you are also right to say that, following this directive's entry into force, it will be left to the Member States to decide whether they want immigration, and if so, how much of it. But, by this proposal for a directive, you are putting down a marker to the effect that ‘immigration is a right.’ You, on Thursday, will not be returning to a country in which, at present, 4.6 million people are unemployed. Or, to put the question another way, are there schools in Portugal in which half the children do not understand Portuguese?
It is true that we need rules on legal immigration, and that we have to control it, but it is also the case that our problems with the economy and education mean that we lack appropriate jobs for our own fellow-citizens. Despite its few tentative good points, the signal you are sending out by means of this directive is the wrong one, and it is being sent at the wrong time. For example, you also intend to grant a third-country national the right to immigrate even if he reveals the existence of a job that has been vacant for four weeks, and you, Mrs Terrón i Cusí, with your three-week period, want to undercut this proposal. This reminds me of a motor race in a James Dean film, in which the contest is to see who will be the last to jump out of a car heading for a precipice. Incidentally, the film's German title translates as ‘They know not what they do’.
Despite high unemployment in Germany, there are still at present many positions that remain unfilled. One of the reasons for this is that the education system has been run into the ground. What you are now saying is, ‘do not worry about reforming your own country's educational system – we shall just get immigrants to do the jobs.’ – but that cannot be the solution!
So let me repeat: the proposal is well-intentioned, but it sends the wrong signal, and, by the way, as you know, Commissioner, I take the view that the Convention has to be even bolder."@en1
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