Madam President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, almost three years on from the Tampere Council, which established a strategy for creating a European area of freedom, security and justice and laid the foundations for a work programme and a common policy in the field of immigration and asylum, we can now take stock of the progress made or not made and of the current state of affairs. I am afraid to say that the result is neither positive nor encouraging. Implementing the Tampere conclusions, the Commission has indicated through a legislative programme the need to develop a proactive policy which recognises that the pressure from migration is going to continue and that ordered migration can bring benefits for Europe, for the migrants themselves and for their countries of origin. The approach proposed by the Commission involves a comprehensive policy which addresses all the issues – economic, social, political and humanitarian – and provides for close cooperation between government actions and initiatives of the social partners, the associations and local and regional authorities. As we know and as you, President-in-Office, have pointed out, all this means working on five policies simultaneously: defining legal immigration channels, combating illegal immigration, equal treatment in line with the principles of non-discrimination against non-Community citizens and with integration policies, partnership with the countries of origin, and the establishment of a European asylum system. Despite this positive line taken by the Commission and the incorporation of Parliament’s contributions, our progress is neither positive nor encouraging. I feel that the Council is largely responsible for all this for, on the one hand, it is laying down a path to follow – as it did, indeed, at Tampere – and, on the other, it has constantly failed to fulfil its undertakings or to shoulder its ensuing responsibilities. The Council and many governments are overlooking the fact that one of the causes of immigration is precisely our own labour shortage. We have to admit that we have failed to identify the needs of our labour market or to see the need to combat illegal working, to see the link between these concerns and an effective immigration policy. We focus purely on security issues which, although important, need to be addressed in a balanced way with a policy based on respect for the law and the rights of individuals. As regards security and immigration, however, some of the governments in Europe, such as the Italian Government, tend to practise a combination of alarmism and utopianism. Immigration is seen solely as a threat against which the country must defend itself, people’s fears are fed and it is promised that the problem will miraculously disappear; populist slogans imply that the State and the police are justified in anything they do to secure order. The opposite is true, however. A responsible security policy must be based on two, interconnected pillars: firstly, holding the doors open to the flows of legal immigration, with precise rules and limits, and I do mean holding the doors open, not flinging them wide. The other pillar is an effective fight against illegal immigration. Failure to do the former will mean having to step up the latter, however, for the most desperate people, those determined – or forced – to emigrate, throw themselves into the arms of the criminal traffickers offering to take them to Europe in their floating death traps. Although it is true that the citizens’ concerns cannot, indeed must not be ignored, it is also true that these concerns cannot be addressed, much less resolved, through alarmism or blind, repressive policies.

Political group: PSE