Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-14-Speech-3-277"
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"en.20040114.6.3-277"2
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".
Mr President, with regard to the report by Mr Pirker, Mr Santini has already referred to the social inclusion issue, which was endorsed in December. The Commission welcomes the support that the Pirker Report gives to the Commission communication.
The Council has arrived at a common approach to these proposals, pending the opinion of the European Parliament. Other future proposals in this field, such as the one on European Union passports, must be guided by the coherent approach in particular with respect to the biometric identifiers chosen which was defended in our communication and endorsed by the European Council.
The main policy recommendations put forward in the communication were endorsed by the European Council in Thessaloniki and further developed at its meeting in Brussels in October 2003.
A major boost was therefore given in 2003 towards completing the policy framework for common management of migratory flows. Nevertheless, these positive developments must be complemented by substantial progress in other areas of migration policy, and in particular legal migration and asylum.
The Commission has proved to be capable of delivering what was announced in the communication and requested by the Council in Thessaloniki, and moreover within very tight deadlines in some cases. I could refer to the Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders. Other proposals, such as visa information systems, a financial instrument for return management and a proposal for a directive on minimum standards for return procedures, will follow soon.
Following political agreement on the main elements regarding the External Borders Agency, it is now important that the Council armed with the opinion of the European Parliament formally adopt the proposal as soon as possible. This would allow the Commission to start the preparatory work for setting up the agency in the spring of this year, with the target of having the agency operational by January 2005.
The creation of a visa information system is another important development. The need for such a system was mentioned in our communication on illegal immigration in 2001. The Thessaloniki European Council asked the Council and the Commission to focus on the legal and technical arrangements for the development of the VIS.
The Council is expected to agree very soon on the basic elements of the system, including its architecture and functions, taking into account financial aspects and the choice of biometric identifiers.
The Commission intends to present the first instrument for the development of the VIS in the coming weeks.
Regarding biometrics, the Commission has already submitted two proposals to amend the uniform format applying to visas and residence permits for third-country nationals so that biometric identifiers for such documents can be taken into account in future."@en1
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