Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-17-Speech-2-012"
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"en.20080617.4.2-012"2
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".
I am in fact delighted that we are here today and talking about the return directive, which is practically the first document that we have succeeded in producing together – Parliament and Council – in the area of migration. Previously we have not had such an experience, and I must say that exceptionally great efforts were made, both by the Council and by Parliament, and especially by Mr Weber, in arriving at the point we are at today.
In conclusion, in view of the constructive and fruitful cooperation I would like to thank, in addition to the rapporteur Mr Weber, all shadow rapporteurs, who were present the entire time at all political negotiations, and of course the Vice-President and his staff from the Commission, who helped us on many occasions to find compromise solutions.
The positions that we coordinated in the Council took up a great deal of time. We needed more than two years to coordinate certain basic principles on the basis of which we will actually be able to begin the political trialogue. We started the political trialogue almost at the end of last year, and continued it this year, and the approach we selected and which was also supported by the rapporteur Mr Weber, for which I thank him, was that first we had a majority opinion of the Member States and attempted to harmonise texts, and only then did we seek a qualified majority in the Council for support of the text we harmonised.
Certain points were extremely difficult, or rather hard to secure, and one of the areas of extreme importance – both for Parliament and of course for the Council – is the period for which we may detain or restrict the movement of persons who arrive illegally in the territory of the European Union. It needs to be said very clearly: just ten countries have a period of less than six months. Just ten countries out of 27 Member States have a period of less than six months, and all the other countries will have to adjust their legislation to the period of six months, which we propose in this directive, which signifies major progress in our available options and of course in the area of restricting movement.
It also needs to be said that this has involved exceptional progress and a process of standardisation on the basis of which all countries will be bound to operate. To date each country has operated according to its own legislation, and of course I hope very firmly that we will be able to achieve an appropriate consensus here today in Parliament, and complete a first reading and vote at first reading.
In practical terms the hardest thing of all in our talks was the issue of offering legal assistance to persons. Here in the Council we heeded and took on the arguments and views of Parliament, albeit with great difficulty, through negotiations right up until the final day, the final negotiations relating to this point ended practically on the morning before the Council of Ministers, and we were also able in the Council of Ministers to persuade ministers to adopt the kind of rules desired by Parliament, even though this will involve a significant increase in work and also in investment of finances that individual Member States will provide. The point is, we need to be aware that the situation of illegal migration varies greatly – from the Mediterranean, where there are major daily problems, and even more so in summer, to certain countries that are far from migratory flows and which of course can react to migration in an entirely different way.
I must say that I am of course pleased that we found compromises which will help to improve the situation for migrants, that we focused on the most vulnerable groups of migrants – families and children – and that we are providing them with significantly greater rights than in many national legislations at this moment, and this seems to me extremely significant progress and an extremely significant achievement for the negotiators from Parliament when we debated these issues.
However, I must of course say a few other things. I must say that the compromise reached in the Council was achieved with great difficulty. The negotiations, in which I personally, along with other ministers, was involved up until the final day, were extremely difficult and arduous, and there is now an unequivocal, firm view in the Council that this is a text that is acceptable for the Council. Any kind of revision or amendment to this text will signify a disagreement on the part of the Council, which of course will mean non-adoption of the directive at first reading.
What are the consequences of this? We will not have common standards, we will not improve a situation that we all wish to improve, and the process of adopting this directive will be prolonged and dragged out significantly. Being very optimistic, we can assume that for at least the next three years we will not succeed in coordinating a return directive, and of course in this way we will also significantly exacerbate the situation for all those for whom we could significantly improve matters.
However, that is not the only consequence if this directive is not adopted. Another consequence is that it will affect other directives we adopt in the co-decision procedure, for which the method of negotiation such as was implemented in this procedure could be a good example and could contribute significantly to improving work primarily with directives on the green card and on certain other rights of workers that come to the European Union. I think the path that we have mapped out is the right one and that in this way we will be able to function."@en1
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