Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-05-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20031105.6.3-059"2
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"Mrs Maes, you have raised some very sore points, and I will give you a very clear reply. Firstly, as regards the political, economic and social integration of minorities, Europe has problems not only with Roma. I could name groups in a number of Member States for whom discrimination is similarly prevalent, just to put the record straight. It is not, therefore, just the south eastern Europeans that have problems with the integration of the Roma minority, but also well-established old Member States that have problems integrating national minorities. As regards the Roma, they were and are, as you know, the main focus of our pre-accession efforts, and we will not declare any country ready for accession that has not devised and implemented a viable strategy for their integration. I have, however, said many times in this House that it would be a complete illusion to believe that the problem of discrimination and the Roma could be solved before accession in the sense of there being no more discrimination; that is a challenge for at least a whole generation. What we can reasonably achieve is, precisely, to see a policy drawn up and implemented that reduces discrimination, and I think that we have achieved just that.
As regards the other issues such as prostitution and trafficking in women and girls, we repeatedly and emphatically point out these are, of course, prohibited in all of these countries. We cannot say that there is a shortfall in the legislation but we can say that there is a shortfall in its enforcement. Allow me to say something else, though, since, recently in particular, the issues of which I am all too aware have become apparent at Czech/German and Czech/Austrian border patrols. When we talk about prostitution and even child prostitution, then there are always two sides. There are those who offer their services or are forced to offer their services, but there are also those who ask. I have always been in favour and have always said that the issue needs to be tackled from both sides. I do not believe that we can solve it if we only tackle it from the angle of these unfortunate women, girls and children, who are abused for the purpose of sexual adventures, or whatever else. It must also be tackled from the angle of those who feature as customers, who create the demand and also an offer."@en1
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