Mr President, I note our rapporteur’s concern to strike a balance between secure borders and respect for basic rights and I welcome our committee’s work to give this report a more humanitarian face. I also welcome the European Commission’s efforts to develop genuine European policies on immigration and asylum. Despite all these efforts, the Tampere agenda will not, however, be kept to. Many of the Commission’s proposals are at present pending before the Council. The few measures that have been taken come in for regular criticism and the directive on family reunification is still the subject of an appeal by our Parliament before the Court of Justice. For some time now, we have noted with regret that the driving force behind immigration and asylum policy has been the security of the Member States above all. In reality, this results in an intensive and often disproportionate struggle against illegal immigration, which is considered a threat, a source of terrorism and a destabilising factor. That is therefore the vision of the Council and the Member States, a highly security-conscious, repressive and utilitarian vision geared to their own needs and disregarding the needs of others. The proliferation of border control authorities is an illustration of this. While it is legitimate for the Union to want to protect its residents and its interests, the Member States must be aware that only an overall, integrated approach will produce an effective European policy. For that, such an approach must at one and the same time include a management of migratory flows that allows legal immigration, the socio-economic, cultural and political integration of third country nationals and cooperation with third countries in a Community framework. Fighting illegal immigration means above all protecting its victims, in particular fighting the trafficking in human beings and the networks of unscrupulous smugglers. To this end, we call on the Member States to ratify the Palermo Convention. To date, only Denmark, France and Spain have done so. Illegal immigration will not dry up so long as there are still such yawning economic and political gaps between North and South. People are right to want to flee horrendous situations. All too often, the democratic deficit goes hand in hand with the social and humanitarian deficit. We must not, however, bury our heads in the sand: illegal immigration is also a necessity for our economy. Today, all liberal policies argue for a return to a measure of specific immigration. Thus, the countries of the North are allowed to transform the South into a manpower supermarket to meet the needs of its enterprises for a specific period. This effectively plunders the productive forces of the South. The Union’s policy for fighting illegal immigration will not be credible without measures to combat moonlighting, but instead of penalising those who come to our countries looking for hope, we should be penalising employers who shamelessly exploit immigrants who have no papers. On the other hand, such a policy must regularise those immigrants’ situations, recognise them, give them rights, give them the means to fight against discrimination and exclusion and make them our equals. Any returning of people whose situation is irregular must fully respect their human rights and comply with international conventions, including the right to seek asylum. The European Parliament will shortly be deciding on the Italian initiative which seeks to coordinate expulsions of aliens by using joint European charters. We clearly condemn such a project, which neither complies with our international commitments nor respects basic rights. Readmission agreements can be an adequate framework for a return policy only if they take sufficient account both of the interests of the third countries and the wishes and plans of the person concerned. For that to happen, they must be given genuine assisted returns so that they can be fully reintegrated both socially and economically. (The President cut off the speaker)

Political group: Verts-ALE