Mr President, in many of our countries, we are now seeing a shift to the right and growing xenophobia. I previously understood that, in Mr Watson’s view, this was due to an unwillingness to tackle this evil at root. I believe, however, that we need to be alert to another aspect of the matter, namely to the fact that the xenophobic parties – for example, in my own country – are strongest where there are fewest foreigners and weakest in those areas where there are most foreigners. I believe we must also see xenophobia as a symptom of other things, namely the fact that fear in itself is often more powerful than the object of fear and the fact that the background to a great deal of all this is a powerlessness that stems from social exclusion, which is also a consequence of increased competition. Before we began the debate in this House, I had just visited the UNHCR's web site to see what the situation was, and, unfortunately, it had not of course changed for the better. There are still more than 21 million refugees who, as such, come under the responsibility of the UNHCR, and there is a corresponding number of internally displaced people who are refugees within their own countries. That of course says something about the enormous need there is for action to be taken. We also need to devise a common policy and to take measures jointly. It would be useful however if, before we begin, we were to agree upon what heading we were to act under. Is the aim to reduce the number of refugees for whom the UNHCR, with its scarce resources, is responsible, or is it to reduce the number of refugees who reach, or pass through, the gates of the EU? I should like to thank the Spanish Presidency for its report, because things are of course happening along the way. Matters are proceeding slowly and, in my view, too slowly where a number of the issues are concerned. It is not completely clear, however, under what heading the work is being done. Unfortunately, I have to say that the heading under which the Danish Presidency will be acting when it takes over shortly is crystal clear. The Danish Minister for Europe states very clearly that the purpose of a common policy for the EU is to stem the tide. There is, of course, a logic here, and the desire for tighter control, increased border surveillance, more of Eurodac and more of Dublin makes sense in this context. None of these measures make sense, however, if all that is relevant is the second project, aimed at reducing the total overall number of refugees. No one can be in favour of the Mafia’s earning money from human trafficking, and no one can be in favour of an activity that results in the death of innocent Chinese in Dover or anywhere else, for that was not of course a unique event. Bodies are washed up on the coasts of Europe every day as a result of completely unscrupulous Mafia methods. When, however, we ourselves are involved in criminalising anyone who helps refugees and when we also criminalise those acting from good, heartfelt Christian or other religious motives or for humanitarian reasons, then we are directly implicated in supporting the Mafia in this project of theirs. When we do that, we are cramming poor people’s money directly into the pockets of the Mafia. When our response to the 21 million refugees is higher walls around ourselves, then we are stuffing poor people’s money into the pockets of those who should have enough money as it is. It is important to combine our efforts, but we cannot shut out the surrounding world, no matter how high the walls we build. We are therefore concerned here with the sharing of responsibility, more aid for crisis prevention, improved aid to developing countries – and, on that issue, I should be very interested to know if the Danish Liberals support the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party – more support for the UNHCR's work and greater courage on the part of European politicians in resisting populism and xenophobia.

Political group: GUE-NGL