Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-06-Speech-3-131"
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"en.20070606.15.3-131"2
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"Mr President, Mr Gloser, Commissioner, it is important to recall today the pictures we have all seen in the newspapers and on television. A boat would be spotted from the air, and by the time the local rescue operation was launched, the boat was no longer there, and 53 to 57 people had drowned. We are talking today about other cases too, in which almost everyone found on these boats was dead. We are talking about children, about babies, about many unknown people – in short, about an appalling tragedy which must surely horrify us. Allow me, therefore, to say first of all on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats that this issue goes right to the heart of Europe. It is about fundamental rights, about the very foundation stone of our values, namely the right to life. Today’s debate is not about the immigration argument, about whom we let into Europe and whom we exclude, but about quintessentially humanitarian matters. I must therefore stress that values do not stop at borders; we Europeans believe that values are indivisible, and we must apply them.
Secondly, I would like to emphasise that, as many of my honourable colleagues have said, there is now a pressing need for European solidarity. Leaving a tiny country like Malta and other countries along our southern rim to their own devices and then pointing an accusing finger at them is not the way to act. No, this is a European issue. I find it a great pity that this tragedy has had little media impact in central and northern Europe and that people in those parts have shown no interest in it.
Action is needed now. For that reason, Commissioner, I gladly embrace, on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party, the idea that we should discuss a spending freeze if funds are needed for this purpose. I ask the Council through you, Peter, not only to adopt decisions but to take long-overdue action now. Decisions will not save people’s lives; only practical measures can save lives. That is why I am calling quite specifically for this humanitarian disaster to be one of the main items on the agenda at next week’s meeting of the Council."@en1
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