Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-162"
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"en.20030408.4.2-162"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this draft directive is, in fact, the first legal instrument to be introduced by us in the realm of legal immigration. I am therefore pleased that, at least now at the third attempt, the proposal presented by the Commission is based on a sound approach, and we support it, not least because it incorporates many of our parliamentary proposals, particularly those made by the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats.
I consider it especially encouraging, for the sake of the labour market in the European Union, the social safety net and the interests of the Union with regard to the integration of non-EU nationals, that the concept of the family introduced in this draft is that of the nuclear family, in other words that the family as defined in the draft is restricted to parents and minor children. I also find it encouraging that the Council has already given its political approval to this proposal and that we can expect the final adoption of the directive based on this narrow definition of the family to be effected in the month of May.
The report before us, on the other hand, which we are now discussing, is a very definite backward step, a return to the Stone Age, as it were, of immigration policy. It quite simply ignores the realities and opportunities that exist in our Member States. For example, by redefining the family, you are calling for the extension of the directive to unmarried partners, adult offspring and other relatives. You even go so far as to ask for the immigration of second and third wives and their children. That, if I may say so, is inconsistent with the tradition and culture of Europe. You call for shorter time limits, and you seek to curb Member States’ scope to impose appropriate restrictions through their own national laws and regulations.
The proposal presented by the Commission is sound. We in the Group of the European People’s Party shall support it. We utterly reject, however, the proposals tabled by the rapporteur, which would extend the concept of family far beyond the limits that the European Union can accept as a tolerable basis for its immigration policy."@en1
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