Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-159"
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"en.20030408.4.2-159"2
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"Mr President, Mrs Cerdeira Morterero’s report is attempting to make positive adjustments to the Commission’s initial proposal, in a climate characterised by security laws and the
criminalisation of emigration.
This is the case, for example, with regard to the ending of discrimination in the field of family reunification. But we might ask ourselves whether it is not a question of a fool’s bargain, as asserted by certain fellow Members, since the Council already reached an agreement in February, with which Commissioner Vitorino was satisfied.
Therefore allow me, in turn, to express doubts over the desire to take the opinion of the European Parliament into account. Allow me also to express extreme concern over the current trend where several countries of the Union are hardening their migration policies. For example, we understand why the French Government called this agreement – an important part of the policy on the control of migration flows. While harmonisation of national laws is necessary, is this taking place based on compliance with the rights and protection of third-country nationals, in the very spirit of the Tampere agreements, or will the transposal of this directive on the contrary be the pretext, for some, for a reduction in the level of protection already guaranteed by the Member States? By increasing the conditions of entry, for example, for children and choosing between qualified and non-qualified job-seekers, Europe is becoming a fortress. This policy plays no part in creating a European citizenship which upholds the values of tolerance, democracy and solidarity in accordance with, in particular, the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This is a real opportunity for the Union: immigrant populations should instead take advantage of free movement and a welcome which enables them to participate in local life and have a reasonable income. We would be a long way from the fantasy of invaders in that case. In this respect, the 2002 report on the Continuous Reporting System on Migration set up by the OECD re-establishes the truth. In France, whether the Minister of the Interior likes it or not, the total number of permanent entries totalled 119 000 people in 2002, that is, less than the figure for 1998, and the principal reason for this migration remains, in 77% of cases, family reunification.
Lastly, following the example of human rights associations, I am today anxious to condemn actions which the Danish Presidency in a way allowed in its Return Action Programme of November 2002. I refer to chartering flights which are loaded with ‘undesirables’. It will have taken barely four months for Mr Sarkozy in France to disappear into this organisation of forced returns, shameful for this day and age, and above all, a far cry from a humane and fair immigration policy."@en1
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