Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-09-09-Speech-3-028-000"
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"en.20150909.5.3-028-000"2
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"Mr President, before I start I would like to address Mr Juncker and echo the President’s words in terms of paying tribute to him personally for his courage, and also his sense of duty, in coming here today to address us. Mr Juncker, we may not always agree, but actually I think we have to pay tribute to your courage and your sense of duty. Thank you very much.
I am not softening you up for a number of blows, do not worry about that! Year after year I sit in this Chamber, and we hear a lot of rhetoric from all sides. After all, that is the point of Parliament: to discuss. We hear a lot of ideology, a lot of idealism. I hear some people say that only more Europe is the answer. I hear others say that the EU is the cause of all our problems, and I fear we will hear that same debate all over again today. That is why we never get anything done. That is why the EU is seeing crisis after crisis. I know that many of us from across the political spectrum came into politics because we wanted to help people, but in this Chamber we are paralysed in this debate and this continent by ideology and dogma. Dogma that has caused fair—weather EU policies, like castles made of sand that fall into the sea or eventually melt into the sea. At times, the debates verge on serialism, for example when you see someone walk down with an Angela Merkel mask. At other times what we need is realism. We need some euro realism and the migrant and refugee crisis is one example.
Many people on the edges of this Chamber deliberately seek to confuse economic migrants with refugees, either to let them all in or to keep them all out. But we need to be clear about the distinction: people running for their lives, seeking sanctuary as refugees. We need to understand what they are running from. For those not fully in persecution or famine, we have to understand that it is only human nature to want to seek a better life. But we must be clear, in that case, that the correct rules must be followed. There are currently legal migration systems that we have to adhere to. However, we also need to be honest with our voters. The effects of the war in Syria and conflicts in Libya, Eritrea, Ukraine and elsewhere will be long-lasting and those who say that there are easy solutions are just plain wrong. But in the EU, rather than trying to find common solutions, we now find our countries and institutions trying to find someone to blame rather than trying to find solutions.
Some countries are unilaterally rewriting the rules; others are clearly flouting them, undermining trust. But if there is one thing that the EU should be useful for, whatever our ideological views, surely it should be about bringing countries together to cooperate and to find solutions that we can all find together, and so let us sit around a table – and I do not mean just the countries of the EU. This is an international crisis that needs an international response. Of the four million refugees from Syria, 90% are in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and yet some Middle Eastern countries take absolutely no-one. Let us work out what each country can do to help those fleeing for their lives, but let us be clear: telling countries what to do, forcing a plan on them, only risks more finger pointing. It might make some of you feel better, but I fear it could actually make the crisis worse and push us further away from a solution, because different countries can help people in different ways: let us recognise that. Yes, some countries might wish to take migrants already in the EU. That is their choice, but others will rightly say that they want to help the most vulnerable in the camps around Syria.
We have an obligation to help the millions of people displaced by conflict, not just the thousands who managed to reach our shores. That is why some countries, including my own, are focusing their efforts on these camps and on the ground, tackling the vulnerable, delivering over a billion euros of aid to Syrian camps, helping hundreds of millions of African refugees and actually keeping our commitment of 0.7% of GNI to build an economic infrastructure in poorer countries around the world. Let us not dismiss that sort of assistance. Other countries can also make a contribution with more funding and assistance, setting up application centres closer to where people are fleeing from so that vulnerable people do not have to fall into the arms of the traffickers. Others can commit the hardware intelligence to take out the traffickers completely, and for all of us stabilising the situation will mean investing in resources to detain, swiftly process and return those who do not have a legitimate claim. In the ECR, we want a realistic, holistic and practical response. There should be no sacred cows if we are going to solve this problem together.
President Juncker, over the last year, we have seen an unprecedented amount of sticking plaster placed on Europe’s cracks, not least the euro crisis. We need to start finding some real solutions: we need to tackle these problems in realistic ways. The time to point fingers is over, and I hope there will not be any more of that today. It might produce headlines, but it will not produce solutions, so let us sit down together and work together. Europe does not need a new Iron Curtain; Europe needs iron will to discuss together, work together and find a solution together. I hope you will listen."@en1
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