Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2017-06-01-Speech-2-055-000"
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"en.20170601.4.2-055-000"2
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"Madam President, the existing security features for the visa system for the Schengen area have been deeply compromised. Therefore the updated security features are needed to combat counterfeiting. Hence, the legislation for an improved uniform format for Schengen visas which we are discussing today.
The UK is not a member of the Schengen area and is not therefore participating in this legislation. The UK has its own national system for issuing visas and, thankfully, access to the Schengen area does not give access to the UK, at least not officially. It is good that the EU is trying to tighten up on illegal immigration, but since anyone who can make it across the Mediterranean in a boat is going to be admitted anyway, the lines between the legal and illegal immigration are becoming increasingly irrelevant. In fact, people smugglers are now putting only enough petrol in their boats to get them offshore so that the rescue services will automatically bring their human cargoes ashore. It is now not so much a rescue service as a taxi service for the last leg of the illegal migrants’ journey.
The big problem for the EU is the Schengen area itself, which is a magnet pulling migrants to Europe. Once a migrant has achieved a foothold in the Schengen area, it opens up the possibility of onward journeys to their desired location. Although the UK is not part of Schengen, our border controls are extremely lax and open to abuse, to say the least. Our immigration system and border controls are in chaos. One simple indicator of this is to look at the official migration figures next to other known figures for migrants. In 2016, the official net migration figure was 273 000. However, the number of National Insurance numbers issued to foreign nationals was 825 000. Clearly something is wrong if there can be such an enormous discrepancy.
A leak from the German Government said that another 6 million illegal migrants are waiting to come to Europe this summer. The UK is not affected by this legislation and UKIP MEPs will therefore abstain, but we wish you luck with sorting out your visa system because you are going to need it."@en1
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