Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-10-Speech-2-483-000"
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"en.20110510.63.2-483-000"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, President of the Commission, as has already been emphasised, Schengen is one of the great achievements of our common European project. Citizens notice it on a daily basis when travelling around Europe. It is the realisation of the dream of Europe – a Europe without border controls. It must therefore first be made clear in this debate – particularly in view of the debate that has taken place in recent weeks – that we in this House will jointly ensure that this principle and the idea behind it are not derailed by any initiative or any debate. We will defend this principle in the European Parliament.
In recent weeks there have been discussions concerning more than 25 000 refugees from Tunisia who have arrived in the Italian territory of Lampedusa. Yet a country such as Sweden has been accepting more than 25 000 people a year for years on end. There have been states that have accommodated much greater numbers of people relative to their own population that is currently happening on the southern border of Europe, yet nobody has ever thought of questioning Schengen because of the burden. I would therefore like to clearly stress at this stage that it is a pity that we seriously need to have a debate in Europe, of all places, on Schengen status as a result of this challenge that we must deal with together.
Secondly, I should like to make it clear that we practise solidarity. When it comes to countries such as Malta – a small country that is massively affected and which has no hinterland – then we are currently practising solidarity. In addition to this solidarity, however, I should like to stress that the second basic principle is the responsibility that the countries themselves have. I must therefore also ask the Commission to look more into this. If courts in the European Union are now ruling that Dublin II is to be ineffective – in other words, that refugees are not to be deported to their states of first arrival – then we must ask the Commission how committed it will be to taking action against those states that are obviously not currently implementing the existing law. We are talking here about minimum standards in the European Union. I am therefore calling on the Commission to take action here, too.
As regards the preparation for the Council, I have just three points to make. The first is that when it comes to migration then naturally we must expect more migration in the long term as a result of demographic change, but here in the European Union we currently have 24 million people without work and in Spain the youth unemployment rate is 30%. We should therefore proceed cautiously – very cautiously – when it comes to the issue of migration. My second point concerns strengthening Frontex, as has already been mentioned.
My third point is that I would ask us all to ensure that those states that were about to join Schengen, namely Bulgaria and Rumania, are not left behind because of the current debate. They have done the work; they have made efforts. We are not asking for lower standards for joining, but if they meet the standards then it is only fair that Bulgaria and Rumania also have the right to become members of the Schengen area."@en1
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