Ęaramanou (PSE).
– (EL) Mr President, the fact of the matter is that a very ambitious and
serious attempt is under way to resolve the everyday problems of European
citizens, the success of which will help strengthen the political dimension of
European unification, because European unification and a single European area
obviously imply more than just a single market and a common currency. Which is
why we need to strengthen our citizens’ sense of security, fight organised
crime, strengthen police and judicial cooperation, mutually recognise court
judgments, develop an integrated, viable immigration policy based on our common
European values and fight racism and xenophobia in the European Union.
If we take stock
of how far we have come since October 1999, we will see that there have been
serious delays and setbacks in achieving our aims. This is because, on the one
hand, we have an energetic Commission and a creative Commissioner and, on the
other hand, a Council which is irresolute and appears unwilling even to
implement what the governments themselves decide. Instead, we are faced with
fragmentary and uncoordinated initiatives on individual issues on the part of
the Member States, initiatives which often fall outside the framework agreed at
Tampere. And as we know, this sort of situation causes serious problems, both
to the working of the Commission, which does not have the human resources
needed to respond to all these initiatives, and to the working and the agenda
of the European Parliament. Of course, the Council must be credited in 2000
with the decision to set up the refugee fund and mutually recognise civil court
judgments, such as in divorce cases. And, of course, the list of achievements
in 2000 also includes the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in
Nice, although not, of course, in the manner which Parliament had hoped for.
I should also
like to congratulate the Swedish Presidency on working to strengthen the
political dimension of the venture to create a common area of freedom, security
and justice in the Union, especially in its endeavour to get a framework
Council decision adopted during the six-month Swedish Presidency on a Commission
proposal to fight the trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of
children and child pornography. As far as immigration policy is concerned and
the huge gap in this area, some Member States, including Greece, have decided
to plug this gap with national legislation under the Tampere agenda. Last week,
the Greek government passed an immigration bill legalising and regulating the
status of thousands of immigrants who entered Greece over the last ten years,
thereby finding a positive solution to serious issues which the Council has
stubbornly kept on the back burner.