Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-26-Speech-3-065"
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"en.20070926.2.3-065"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I will be brief. This was certainly one of the fullest, most detailed and all-encompassing debates that I have had the honour of chairing, attending and participating in within the Council and this Parliament. It was a debate in which I noted and from which I have naturally taken various suggestions, advice and proposals which in my opinion are extremely important and essential to the work that we must do in the future.
In light of all this, I feel that I can legitimately conclude that the European Union has a coherent and comprehensive strategy for tackling the issues of migration and that it is well on the way to implementing policies which will give physical and practical form to this strategy. Of course there will be some hesitations, some doubts certainly and also of course the need to be a bit more ambitious but, I must stress, everything will be balanced within the context in which we live and according to the difficulties facing us. I feel that we are on the right road and that we can, and must, move forward with determination to implement a truly global approach to migration.
In our opinion, two essential words form the basis of this policy, humanity and solidarity: humanity because this policy is based on the people and is aimed at the people. This issue of humanity cannot be and is never forgotten by the presidency. As has been said, we are talking about people who, by seeking to enter our societies, are legitimately striving for a better life for themselves and for their families. This is a human desire and wish that we must fully respect. The other essential word is solidarity because, as has been said, this is not an issue or a problem that can be solved by only one Member State, or even by two or three. It is a problem that affects everyone and that therefore has and must have a joint response. Fortunately, we believe that there is an increasingly apparent awareness of the need to bring together these two concepts – humanity and solidarity – when defining and implementing European migration policies.
We have already set up a joint instrument for fighting illegal immigration, an agency known as Frontex, which has been in existence for two years. Over this period it has been taking its first steps and, in our opinion, despite some difficulties, has acquitted itself well. Clearly we must increase our efforts to equip it with the instruments needed so that it can achieve the purpose for which it was created more effectively, quickly and accurately. However, we consider that this collective instrument has so far given a good indication that its creation was necessary and right.
In the context of legal migration, mention has very rightly been made here today of the need to increase our dialogue with third countries, specifically those countries which are the source of migration flows. This dialogue is absolutely fundamental and, as has been said, I fully agree that, without considering, analysing and in some way attacking the causes which, in these countries of origin, are at the root of these migration flows, we will never be able to find a permanent solution to this problem.
We have stepped up dialogue in this area with Africa and we hope that at the next Europe-Africa summit very important results may be achieved, and ultimately legal migration, in the context of migration and dialogue on migration with the countries of origin. The Portuguese Presidency has put legal migration high among the action priorities of its agenda for its six-month term. The Commission has also been active in this area and has tabled proposals we regard as very interesting. These will be discussed during our presidency, when we hope, as I have said, to be able to make significant progress.
To sum up, despite the difficulties, despite the tough problems that we must face, we feel that we are on the right road. Here and there perhaps, we must be a bit more ambitious. Here and there perhaps, we must be a bit quicker, but I feel that no one of good faith can deny that a great deal has been done in recent years.
Of course the Council welcomes and encourages this debate with the European Parliament. The issue of codecision and the Reform Treaty was raised here today. As you know, the Reform Treaty has its roots in a mandate that was approved by the European Council and therefore by all the Member States. Decisions of this type must be taken by all the Member States, not just the presidency of course. In any event, I believe that the Reform Treaty, like the Constitutional Treaty, takes extremely important steps towards extending the codecision process to many legislative initiatives within the EU."@en1
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