Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-14-Speech-2-042"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060214.5.2-042"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
The purpose of this regulation is to lay down common rules on the criteria and conditions for establishing a local border traffic regime on the external land borders of the Member States. Given that the original material – the Commission’s proposal – placed serious demands on the people who live along the European Union’s external borders, in this report I have highlighted the following:
Permit me, Mr President, to close by thanking all those that cooperated in this process, in other words the Commission, the Council, and particularly Mr Cashman and Mr Lax, who made especially active contributions to this report.
We need to make crossing the border easier for local residents who have good reasons for making frequent crossings of a Member State’s external border, and we need to prevent illegal migration and the potential security threat posed by criminal activities. The proposed regulation seeks to regulate the issue of local border traffic, which involves frequent, sometimes daily, crossing of the border for the reasons of attending school, work, or family ties, and we therefore need to take into account that these daily migrants return each day to their homes.
Owing in part to historical, geographical and social circumstances, the external borders differ, and life along the border should not be allowed to deteriorate. We need to consider the actual circumstances on the external borders and enable Member States to the greatest possible extent to maintain the good practices that they have established to date through bilateral agreements.
The essence of the amendments which I propose and which are in the text:
Instead of the special ‘L visa’, local border residents will be issued a so-called
which will incorporate all the security standards, and most importantly, will not be stamped upon every crossing of the border. A differentiation between the various external land borders will not be necessary, since in the coming years Member States will sooner or later enter into the Schengen area.
The local border area – this definition has triggered considerable debate. We have agreed that it should not exceed 30 km, and possibly 50 km in exceptional cases. Indeed by increasing the border area, we could find that it would no longer be possible to meet security standards. In no way, however, is it possible to equate local border areas with ethnic boundaries. A local border resident is a citizen of a third country who has resided for at least one year in the border area, while in the debate we have harmonised the proposal containing a whole range of exceptions involving marriage, inheritance and so forth.
In bilateral agreements Member States lay down the longest permitted period of residence, which may not exceed three months in total. In other words, this is a decision whereby an individual from a third country may reside in that border zone for three months in total. Where special circumstances are involved, certain privileges need to be permitted with regard to crossing the border outside established border crossings. There are, for instance, farmers that have half of the property they own in their own country and half in another country, and of course they cannot take their implements with them every time they cross the border.
The adoption of this regulation will show that the European Union is not closing its borders, and is not setting up inhuman conditions along its external borders. The European Union wishes to ensure adherence to the relevant security standards, but in no way to make life harder along the border. The coexistence of people on both sides of the border and their cooperation are important elements of stability and security along the external borders. For this reason another extremely important achievement of this regulation is that through bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries, in other words third countries, Member States will create the conditions for the development of border areas, which are for the most part less well developed.
This regulation provides a basis for the strengthening of economic, cultural and other ties on both sides of the border, so it is important for the border countries as well as for the European Union as a whole. May I also point out that we had several rounds of harmonisation with the Commission and the Council. Although this took some time, the negotiations were successful, such that the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs unanimously adopted this regulation in its debate and in voting."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"local border traffic permit"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples