Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in August 2000, two initiatives were put forward by the then French Council Presidency to combat criminal networks trading in human beings and to take appropriate preventive measures. But before that, a great many refugees had to die as victims of these criminal networks trading in human beings. Unfortunately, they are still dying. Every week, we read at least two reports about this sad state of affairs. For this reason, the European Union must act without delay. The Council Directive defining the facilitation of illegal immigration and unauthorised residence defines a statutory framework to prevent the facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence by criminal networks trading in human beings. The second initiative is a Council Framework Decision on the strengthening of the penal framework to combat the facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence and hence to prevent the exploitation of refugees. I must admit that both initiatives could actually be offered as a single initiative. They could be combined into a single proposal on the same legal base, that of the first pillar. Unfortunately, I was unable to convince the French Interior Minister. I am pleased that my proposed amendments were backed by the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. Now we no longer have two restrictive proposals but two proposals which can deal differently with the different target groups. While the criminal networks trading in human beings must be combated, NGOs or churches and other similar organisations which offer humanitarian aid to persecuted human beings must not be treated as criminals. We should not ignore the fact that, sadly, even today, tens of thousands of people have to flee from various forms of persecution and war. I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, is it a criminal act to help a persecuted person in this situation? Quite frankly, I am glad that there are courageous people who help those who are being persecuted. For this reason, it was very important to define facilitation and the honest facilitator precisely. The text of the French initiative did not distinguish between individual and organised facilitation or between commercial and moral facilitation. That is why a correction was crucial. I would not like to overlook the fact that trading in human beings is a lucrative business for criminals. But it would be a fatal mistake to believe that this problem can only be solved with restrictive measures. Police and judicial measures must be accompanied by a common European asylum and immigration policy. Only in this way can we succeed in preventing the sad events we all witnessed at Dover from being repeated in the future. It would have been easy to reject the proposals of the French government, which I criticised, as there is no common asylum and immigration policy. It really would have been the easiest thing for us to simply declare the matter settled in five minutes. But, given the fate of the victims, that would have been irresponsible. That is why I am glad that the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs and I have managed, with my report, to develop the initiatives so that both humanitarian and penal demands can be met. I very much regret that the PPE- is not prepared to back this report. On the other hand, I am delighted to be able to thank the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party for their sensible, supplementary proposals. I hope that, with my report, we will show the Group of the , the Group of the and the Confederal Group of the – that, in such a difficult situation, the European Parliament will put forward to the Council groundbreaking proposals for action which will represent the interests not only of the state but also of humanity. (Applause)

Political group: PSE