Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-21-Speech-1-142"
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"en.20080421.17.1-142"2
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".
Mr President, first I want to thank the Commissioner for the very precise information, as ever, he has provided on this issue.
I myself have experienced the problems of visas and visa restrictions in the Balkans and I still come across them today, although things have eased up a little. Let us take Serbia for instance, since it has already been mentioned. In spite of the present simplifications, in the context of Yugoslavia – i.e. a communist regime – it had far more contact with the West, with the European countries, in the past than it has now, which means there is something wrong with the whole system. We really do need fundamental changes.
The Commissioner rightly pointed out that in Ukraine more than half of all applicants enjoy exemptions of one kind or another. I wonder what kind of system exempts 50% or more. I admit, however, that this is not his fault.
Let me now turn to Belarus. I was happy to support the proposal from Mrs Grabowska and Mr Paleckis because I find it very difficult to accept that the citizens of that country should suffer twice over because of a bad regime: not just under the regime but also because we are not formulating any plan of action in face of that bad regime.
Sometimes we have to choose to act more unilaterally and decide on our own initiative to do something specifically to help those who receive no help from their own regime or government. The Commissioner indicated that to some extent that is already the case. Yet more needs to be done and we need to conduct a more aggressive policy toward Belarus. For instance, I would be interested to know – and perhaps the Commissioner can answer me at a later date – which countries grant which exemptions. Which European Union countries are particularly helpful and which are perhaps less so? Surely it is important to adopt a European Union stance and if some countries take a liberal approach it would be a disaster for others to be very restrictive.
I would ask the Commission and the Council – given that we know that they bear the main responsibility – to work together with us to ensure that we can offer the citizens and all concerned in Belarus more advantages than we have done – laboriously – in the past."@en1
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