Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-20-Speech-3-403"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070620.30.3-403"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, I could not agree more with the 10-point emergency plan by Mr Pirker, whom I should like to warmly congratulate on this. Last week, we were again shocked by the fact that people are drowning on their way to Europe. Eleven people drowned near Lampedusa. Today’s Dutch newspaper
features the harrowing account of Somali refugees who tried to reach Yemen under adverse conditions.
We should therefore try to set up a better asylum procedure and at the same time take measures to distinguish asylum seekers from illegal immigrants as a matter of relevant urgency.
Whilst achieving better asylum policy thanks to practical cooperation may sound like a very good idea, it is unrealistic. Practical cooperation is not enough. We also need the political will to take the necessary steps. When I read the Dutch newspapers about the Justice Ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday of last week, I get the impression that this political will is absent, because the ongoing issues in the discussion are the real deployment of people and equipment.
While we cannot agree on the common Frontex deployment, a common admission policy for refugees from Iraq, for example, is unlikely. Without a common position on third country security, European official reports cannot be compiled, which is, after all, a precondition for moving harmonised asylum policy forward.
I anticipate major problems surrounding the implementation of the plan to compile a list of safe countries of origin. Which sources are reliable? Can the sources of information from countries that are unsafe be made public? After all, it is highly dangerous to collect evidence against regimes in the grip of a dictatorship.
This is a double-edged sword though. A list of safe countries includes countries with which we can forge trade relations, but if a country does not feature on the list of safe countries, refugees should be welcome. It is then necessary to suspend trade relations with unsafe countries in order to promote human rights. This is where big problems will arise. It is unlikely that former French or British colonies that are currently in the grip of a brutal regime will be excluded from relations with the European Union. I should like to hear from Commissioner Frattini how he will avert this problem.
In addition, harmonised asylum policy benefits from clarity. Mr Catania has tabled an amendment in which he pleads in favour of open reception centres for asylum seekers and other immigrants. In my country, asylum seekers stay in open asylum seeker centres. Illegals are brought to closed centres, with good reason. It strikes me as unwise to set up open reception camps on the Union’s external borders. Support for asylum policy is bound to be undermined if people can move around freely without any valid documents. If the European Union seeks to formulate a charitable and fair asylum policy, there must be a political will to back this up. I call on the Council and Commission to display this will in a bid to prevent new victims."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples