Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-12-Speech-3-142"
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"en.20051012.15.3-142"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the horrendous incidents of recent weeks, with hundreds of Africans hurling themselves in their droves in an attempt to get from Morocco into Ceuta and Melilla, have shocked public opinion. This is nothing new; for years we have been witnessing the desperation that forces these men and women to risk their lives in order to enter Europe, or rather in order to escape Africa, despite the fact that Africa is their land.
Throughout this time we have been witnessing the rafts unloading African men and women on our coasts, and many bodies have been washed up there, having been swallowed up by the sea during their dramatic adventure. We now have the impression that this may not be something that involves hundreds or thousands of people, but that desperation could mobilise millions of people who have nothing to lose and who will stop at nothing in their quest for survival.
The fact that the world is organised in an immensely unjust manner, with increasing inequalities between the industrialised North and the under-developed South, and that that will inevitably have explosive consequences, is no longer something that is just stated by a few of us pioneers in world society: something that was being dealt with by specialists is now on the agenda of the generalists. But this is not a time for anticipating a crisis: the crisis is blowing up in our faces and has caught us without any clear idea of how to react. The strategy for Africa proposed by the Commission and the effort proposed by the British Presidency could respond to the need to react in the face of an issue about which the only clear thing is that we are facing a European problem for which that very European dimension is the only solution, the Union dimension, combined with that of the Member States.
The development of Africa is vital for Africa, but also for Europe. The Commission’s communication is being presented, and it should be called ‘The European strategy for the development of Africa’. There is no question that it is late in coming, but better late then never.
What is being proposed to us seems to us to be sufficiently ambitious, but not sufficiently precise, and also long and, above all, complicated to organise; in any event, it is a step in the right direction. Let us hope that amongst all of us, and in particular here in the European Parliament, we are able to make the process as wide-ranging and specific as I believe it needs to be, supporting the good intentions of the Commission. It will also be essential to deal with the issue sufficiently quickly so that we can respond to an immense emergency which, furthermore, calls into question the credibility of the European Union and its ability to act in a manner that is consistent with its principles."@en1
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