Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I think these reports speak for themselves. Racism and antisemitism are on the increase in the European Union and beyond. Our first act must therefore be not only to refuse to accept this situation but to publicly denounce it. Due to its clear-sightedness, Mrs Ludford’s report actively contributes to this approach. Denouncing racism, including racist talk, does not mean censoring the freedom of opinion as some would have us believe. Racism is not an opinion. It is a crime against human dignity. It is antisocial behaviour which can include physical attacks on individuals. This has recently been seen in El Ejido in Spain and it also happened with the attacks on the homes of Turkish workers in Rostock and with the death of young Ibrahim Ali who was killed in Marseilles in 1995 by billposters of the French National Front. On each occasion, people were given the ideological arms to carry out the attacks. There is also another type of racism which involves daily harassment and humiliation. This can be seen in the discrimination applied in access to housing, leisure facilities and employment. You will all be aware of the example, recently reported in the French press, of a young man from Strasbourg who sent two completely identical curricula vitæ to the same company. The name on one was foreign-sounding and the other was typically French. You can guess which ‘applicant’ was invited for interview. We cannot nowadays simply defend those described as minorities. Instead we must get them out of this ghetto. Rather than concentrating on protecting minorities, we should be building the concept of European citizenship involving common values. We should be concentrating on building a common future for everyone and a society in which everyone can develop and which totally rejects any hint of submission to barbarism. Throughout its history Europe has been capable of the best and the worst. The best is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention. The worst is colonialism, the Shoah, Stalinism and nazism. We must teach our children about all of this. We must clearly embrace everything which can strengthen Europe and reject anything which weakens it. At the same time we must send a clear message about the type of society we want to build. I will say plainly that those who regard as acceptable an alliance with extremists in order to win elections will be swept up and dumped in the dustbins of history. An alliance with the likes of Haider or Le Pen is like supping with the devil. You need a long spoon which will never be long enough. I would also remind those who advocate an ethnic concept of the nation that Clémenceau said that patriotism is the love of one’s country whereas nationalism is the hatred of others. These people have clearly chosen their side. All these fine words must now lead to concrete action and practical legislative steps. Legislation against racism must be harmonised. The words must take on real meaning. Equal opportunities means allowing all children born on European soil to become European citizens and to enjoy the right of nationality of the country in which they are born. Equal rights means being entitled to vote and fighting against all forms of discrimination, whether spatial, geographical, social or racial. This is how we can positively support the values for which we are fighting.

Political group: GUE-NGL