Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-24-Speech-3-500"
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"en.20071024.46.3-500"2
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"Madam President, I should like to begin by turning my thoughts respectfully to our late fellow Member, Mr Correia, who contributed substantially to the compilation of the correct and comprehensive report cited by the Vice-President of the Commission.
I should like to point out that the topic we are discussing today has a very long history. It began in 1983with a Council of Europe convention, which was accepted by all the Member States. However, the convention stipulated that a prisoner could be transferred from one country to another only with the prisoner’s consent. The convention was therefore ineffective. A second convention was drawn up stipulating that the consent of the prisoner was not required, but this convention was not signed by all the Member States of the Council of Europe, and thus the attempt foundered.
On the new initiative of three EU Member States – Austria, Finland and Sweden – a draft was submitted, which was properly prepared by the Council and issued as a framework convention. What does this framework decision provide? It provides that a sentenced citizen of an EU Member State must be transferred to the Member State of which he is a national or in which he has his permanent residence or all his interests. This is very reasonable because we can see that rehabilitating him will become much easier when he comes out of prison: someone transferred to the Member State of their nationality will have much easier access to the language, and their friends and relatives, and will be in a familiar environment.
This report, as you will recall, Madam President, was approved in June 2006 by a large majority in Parliament. Unfortunately, it met with a bureaucratic response from Poland, which, by various procedural ploys, delayed the implementation of this framework decision. We thus find ourselves in the midst of renewed deliberation. Fortunately, with a concession to Poland’s demands, the problem has finally been solved satisfactorily.
However, let me point out, Madam President, that if we think like this, talk of a united Europe is impossible. We cannot speak of a European consensus when each Member State, for its own petty reasons, undermines such a sound measure. In such cases, what sort of united Europe are we talking about?
I should like to underline that the Constitutional Treaty presented two days ago by the Prime Minister of Portugal fortunately provides for an augmented majority in this area, too, so the veto will finally be lifted.
To conclude, let me thank the Vice-President of the Commission, Mr Frattini, for his contribution, and express the wish that, after 25 years, this well-conceived initiative will finally become a reality as soon as possible."@en1
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