Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-09-Speech-2-070"
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"en.20100309.5.2-070"2
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"Mr President, I firstly wish to thank the rapporteur, Mr Coelho, whose proposal I, like the other shadow rapporteurs of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, support.
I have already had the opportunity to say here that Mr Coelho has given good service to the principle of freedom of movement within the European Union, to the rights of citizens, be they European citizens or citizens of foreign countries, and to European democracy itself. This does not only mean its own citizens, but also its reliance on the contribution of thousands and thousands or even millions of citizens of third countries who pass through the European territory, who reside here, and who come here for long or short periods in order to work and to study.
Mr Coelho, with the input of the shadow rapporteurs, has worked in an excellent atmosphere of cooperation and willingness to provide information. Above all, he has done so on time and in this matter time is crucial, given that we are dealing with the lives of individuals.
Like other speakers before me, I could give examples of students, researchers and scientists who arrive in Europe because of the recognised quality of their work but who subsequently cannot cross our borders, which are, as a matter of fact, very closed indeed in the cases of some people from other continents. In two hours, a researcher can leave Portugal and enter Spain, making for the border of another Member State, or rather, he cannot leave if he has, as happens in some cases, a visa to study for a two year Masters degree which does not allow him to leave the country to share his work or to undertake research in another Member State.
We ourselves have even had to deal with such cases on some occasions when, for example, we wish to hear someone’s input in a debate in Brussels, for example.
We should note that this is not only an unnecessary and unjust burden for the citizen of the third country in question. It is a waste for those of us who were relying on their contribution. It is a waste in terms of our competitiveness when we compare, for example, the mobility of this type of foreign citizen in the United States, for example, or in China, India or Brazil, and then see the obstacles to their mobility within the European Union. It is a waste in terms of the mobility of our workforce, of our scientific community when we recognise that this growing mobility is very important in periods of crisis such as the one we are undergoing at present, and it is also a waste for the knowledge society.
It is therefore time that the Council implements these proposals before the Visa Code comes into force in April and causes more unnecessary obstacles to the mobility of such individuals. It remains for me to say therefore that, on behalf of our group, we support the proposal of the rapporteur and we shall vote in favour."@en1
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