Mr President, I would firstly like to congratulate the rapporteur, Mrs Angelilli, on the report we are debating today. The high degree of consensus achieved in the Committee on Citizen’s Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs is undoubtedly essential in such an important area as the one we are debating today; compensation for the victims of crime. The judicial systems of the Member States of the European Union do not pay enough attention to the victims of crime, and what is more, they often do not provide them with appropriate protection or compensation. As a result of this situation, in recent years criminologists and people responsible for judicial policy have paid particular attention to the situation of the victims of crime, within the context of criminal violations, and the protection of their interests. I believe that the report we approved in November 2000, on the status of the victim in the judicial process, was the first step in this legislature towards resolving this problem. It was an important step towards filling the immense legal vacuum which represented, in my opinion, a form of discrimination against the millions of citizens who move freely about the European Union, at risk of being victims of crime, but who are faced with 15 judicial borders, which, in practice, have shown themselves to be incapable of protecting their rights. I am happy that today we are closer to being able to guarantee compensation to victims, not only in order to alleviate the damage and suffering they experience as much as possible, but also in order to pacify the social conflict resulting from crime and to facilitate the application of a rational and correct judicial policy. I would also like to stress that, although reparations or compensation should fall to the person who has committed the crime, as the person directly responsible for the damage, in practice, full compensation by the perpetrator of the crime is rarely achieved, either because they have not been identified, or because they have disappeared or are insolvent. As I have indicated in the amendments approved, it is necessary to restrict the unjust effects resulting from the current varying levels of compensation in the Member States and to guarantee that the citizens of the European Union receive suitable compensation for the damage suffered when they are victims of crime in any part of the Union. This support for the victim must involve two types of measures which complement each other. Firstly, material, psychological, health and social assistance and, secondly, compensation for the damaged caused, both material and emotional, to the victim or the persons dependent on them. There is no doubt that this would represent great progress, with a view to achieving the political objectives which the European Union set for itself at the Tampere Summit and in the Vienna Action Plan. The creation of a genuine area of freedom, security and justice and the exercise of the right to free movement will not be possible unless the Union adopts the necessary measures to protect the citizen when they are victims of crime in any part of its territory, regardless of their nationality, and unless they are compensated for the damage suffered. This initiative by the European Commission and the work of Commissioner Vitorino is, in my view, the right way to achieve that.

Political group: PSE