Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-468"
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"en.20081217.26.3-468"2
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"Mr President, I have listened carefully to all the contributions. I would first like to say to you that, in all conscience, I cannot allow it to be said that FRONTEX is the symbol of a fortress Europe which is closed to all those who need protection or who aspire to come to Europe. That is totally false! As Mr Busuttil, Mr Coelho, Mrs Cederschiöld and Mrs Vălean put it so well, it is clear that FRONTEX has saved many lives up to now, and I cannot allow it to be said that FRONTEX is therefore in some way a militarisation of Europe. I cannot allow that to be said.
Nevertheless, it is true that we need to progress. Mrs Cederschiöld made the very good point that FRONTEX can help us in the fight against human trafficking, while Mrs Vălean also pointed out that we need to look at the land borders and to remind the States of their duties.
Currently, 80% of these illegal border crossings are managed in practice, it must be said, by smugglers, by unscrupulous operators. It should be pointed out that, today, to travel from Libya to the coasts of the Canary Islands, people have to pay extremely large sums of money – EUR 2 000, EUR 3 000 – and have to run the risk, moreover, of being shipwrecked and of drowning before they reach the coasts. I cannot, therefore, allow that to be said.
I believe that FRONTEX has a role to play, and a positive role at that. We need this integrated border management that Mr Coelho spoke of, and it is true that thought will now have to be given to a new mandate for FRONTEX. FRONTEX has to take its place in this global approach, which links development and concerted management of migratory flows. That is the true answer to your questions.
I would also like to remind you, if a reminder were needed, that the Commission obviously has to prepare guidelines for the joint marine operations organised by FRONTEX. Experts from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration are joining experts from the Member States and FRONTEX precisely to ensure that FRONTEX complies with the rules of the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which stipulates that rescued persons should subsequently be housed in a safe place, a place where their life is no longer at risk and where their requirements can be met, whilst their fate is decided.
That is what I wished to say. I well appreciate FRONTEX’s lack of resources, and it will probably be necessary, one way or another, either to force Member States to really make their resources available to FRONTEX or to equip FRONTEX with its own resources, something which, given the current budgetary framework, would appear difficult.
In any case, it is true that FRONTEX’s mandate must be extended. It has to be able to cooperate in this way with the third countries from which immigrants originate in order to be able together to guarantee intelligent, humane monitoring of such illegal migration, which takes place, I repeat, at the expense of the individuals involved.
I wish to thank Mr Moreno: his report is balanced and paves the way for a FRONTEX which will be better equipped and which, at the same time, I would say, will be geared towards the preservation of human lives. That is what we think of when we think of FRONTEX. We must not forget that. Put simply, that is what I wished to say after listening attentively to all the contributions to this debate, and I can say to you for certain that, when we come to draw up the guidelines for FRONTEX, I will obviously bear this debate in mind."@en1
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