Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-20-Speech-2-336"
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"en.20080520.28.2-336"2
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"Madam President, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament requested this debate and I thank you, Commissioner Špidla, for having addressed the essential elements of what needs to be said. I am also very grateful for your very clear words.
Allow me therefore to begin with a plea to us all. Those both on the right and on the left in this Chamber share common values. I am very thankful that many Conservative Members in this Parliament agree with us that we must take a humanitarian approach to the problems that we have to solve.
Human dignity in the European Union is non-negotiable. Burning down camps, chasing people through the streets – this is unacceptable! This approach does not solve anything at all. Thank you, Commissioner Špidla, for placing this core value of European politics at the centre of your remarks.
We want to contribute to solving problems, so I want to make one thing very clear. The problem that we are talking about today is not an Italian problem but rather a problem which, while it occurs in Italy, has in fact occurred everywhere in the European Union in recent years. The problem is that minorities are not sufficiently well integrated into European societies, and that the Roma communities in particular are suffering because of this in all EU countries.
Events like those that occurred in Italy, about which we have been expressing our outrage today, have also occurred in other EU countries. Once again, therefore, this is not a time for pointing the finger at Italy. It is a time to think about how we, together with the authorities in Italy, can solve the problem, primarily in the interests of the Roma community, which needs immediate, direct assistance. It should also be solved in a way that is in the interests of the local authorities, the small towns and cities, some of which are overwhelmed by the integration work required of them. The mayors there need our help too. It was therefore very clever of you, Commissioner, to suggest that we think about how we can help municipalities like this immediately, using the EU funds available.
I believe that the efforts we now have to make should all be focused in one direction. We should not be arguing at this point about who is to blame for something or who failed to do what. We should make a collective effort to take recent events as a reason to say that the Roma community needs all EU Member States, the entire community of European citizens, to be willing to integrate it. We must also insist that the Roma community allow itself to be integrated in our society. This has to be possible, with total respect for the cultural identity of this community.
I spoke with Mr Frattini, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, by telephone today, to make it plain that we as the Socialist Group, together with the Commission and the Council, want to achieve a solution to the most urgent problems, because I believe that we must not allow the Roma to become the target of attacks by people who want to indulge in right-wing populist politicking on the basis of these inadequacies. This is our common task; this is the reason why we requested this discussion."@en1
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