Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-17-Speech-2-014"
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"en.20080617.4.2-014"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Vice-President, we have been debating this Directive on returning illegally staying third-country nationals for two and a half years now. Before going into practical matters, I would like to express my thanks. This was a complex and very emotional topic that many people in Europe feel very strongly about, and it involved using a new procedure, the codecision procedure, so thank you. Within the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs we had the support of a large majority for our suggestions for a solid, workable proposal. As a parliament, we are capable of reaching consensus. Thank you for working together fairly and thank you also to the Slovenian Presidency of the Council because, in the entire two and a half years, it was the only Presidency that really brought any momentum into the debate.
Now to the point: we are not talking about asylum, as people keep on claiming. The Asylum Directive is quite another legislative matter. We are talking about people who are currently in Europe illegally – millions of people staying illegally in Europe, whose illegal status we want to change. The slavery that exists in this area today must be brought to an end in the European Union. This can be done by legalisation, by issuing a legal residency permit, but it can also be done by returning the person to their own country.
Today I would like to address those in this Chamber who are still sceptical, those who are still asking questions. Accusations have been made in connection with the duration of the period of detention pending removal: six months, which can be extended by a further 12 months. People say there are countries that have 30 days, or 40 days. The Council of Ministers has undertaken not to use the Directive as an argument for allowing conditions to deteriorate; in other words, high standards should be maintained. Why does nobody see that we have nine Member States in the European Union that currently have no limit to the detention period? We are improving the situation in these states.
Why does nobody see that we have written a whole section, a whole article especially for children and families, in order to set minimum standards? It particularly serves unaccompanied children, who are especially in need of our help. We have defined minimum standards here. Why does nobody see the requirement to guarantee access to health care and access to education for children? Why does nobody see the key statement expressed by the period of detention pending removal, which is that we want to keep it as short as possible and that a person may be detained only if a return is legally possible? This means that the tactic of wearing down the authorities that is currently practised will be prohibited in the European Union in future.
Why does nobody see that we have legal aid, that the NGOs have access, that there is the right to lodge an objection? This Directive represents major progress. We have limited the countries to which people can be removed. The European Parliament has enforced the principle of voluntary departure, so that what does not currently exist in all Member States will, in future, be a principle. I read in the newspapers that the Council of Europe has made criticisms. All the Council of Europe’s guidelines on return are now included in this Directive and will therefore achieve force of law in future, so why is the Council of Europe criticising its own guidelines? We are making great progress with this Directive, including on the five-year re-entry ban. Please – think back. It was the Commission that proposed the requirement for a five-year re-entry ban to be declared. We managed to have that requirement deleted. As the European Parliament, we were able to ensure that a better regulation is now in place.
There will be a lot of criticism here again today. Many Members will rise to speak and will describe how dreadful the detention centres are, how dire the situation is inside these centres, how inhumane return by the European Union is these days. We have discussed this for two and a half years now, and I thank you for the exchange of views, but today I say bluntly: if you vote against this Directive, if you vote against this trialogue result, you are preventing the European Union from making any progress in improving the standards of these human rights. Therefore, I would ask, please, that we show ourselves capable of acting. Particularly in the light of the fact that the citizens of Ireland have rejected the further expansion of Europe, we have the opportunity with this dossier, in this topical area, to show for the first time, thanks to codecision, that we are capable of acting, and that we want a strong, humanitarian Europe."@en1
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