Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-269"
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"en.20040331.12.3-269"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would first of all like to thank Parliament for this opportunity to discuss these essential issues.
As you know, in application of the previous communication, the Thessalonica European Council gave the Commission another mandate to explore all the parameters guaranteeing the ordered and managed entry into the European Union of persons needing international protection by means of asylum, and the means and resources for increasing the capacity for protection in the regions of origin, and to present a report to the Council before June 2004.
There are naturally clear links between the two communications – in relation to asylum, that of 2003, and the next Commission communication – and your report and today's debates will greatly enhance the work we are carrying out within the Commission and which we will present shortly.
I would like to begin by saying that I am pleased that the report approves the analysis of the deficiencies of the current protection regime of the asylum system, which undermine the credibility and integrity of the institution of asylum and public support for it. Within this context, it is essential to reach an agreement on the directive on asylum procedures, which in reality is the only extraordinary measure still outstanding.
I would like to take this opportunity to stress that the new approach we are exploring in the communication, the subject of your report, indicates a change of focus: to move away from what we can do to reduce numbers of applications but rather to make progress towards what we can do to improve our work, that is to say, in order to better protect a number of refugees – which we suspect will be greater at global level – trying to find new ways to improve accessibility, fairness and management of the international protection system. It is also therefore a question of a better use of funds and of the budgets available to us.
Within this context, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the rapporteur and the European Parliament for the very constructive role they have played in order to move forward the Aeneas programme, which will contribute to helping third receiving countries, providing them with financial and technical assistance so that they can deal with the pressures they are under when dealing with refugees over long periods of time.
Nevertheless, financial and technical assistance alone is not enough. It is necessary to share burdens and responsibility if the European Union wants to demonstrate that its desire for international protection to become more equitable is a genuine one. Within this context, we could offer to relieve some of the pressure on receiving countries, offering places for resettling refugees within the European Union.
The next communication will go into more detail on the reasoned analysis and the parameters for a possible resettlement plan within the European Union, and it is clear that such considerations must be contained within a global context in which the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) will obviously play an important role, given the links with the current global debates on the strategic use of resettlement.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for the report produced by Parliament and of course – and I address this in particular to the rapporteur – it will be taken into account in the next Commission communication."@en1
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