Strasbourg, 08/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - MEPs hoped on Tuesday 8 October that the recent tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa (see EUROPE 10936) would jolt the member states, meeting that same day in Luxembourg, into taking real action, on the one hand, to prevent such disasters from happening and, on the other, to develop a common migration policy.
“I hope that European leaders will realise the scale of what has happened”, stated Hélene Flautre (Greens/EFA, France). Her fellow group member Rebecca Harms (Germany) went further: “I don't know how many more tears we will shed”, she said, referring to the speech of European Parliament President Martin Schulz the previous day at the opening of the plenary session in Strasbourg. “It's a bit hypocritical”, she went on, regretting that there was no resolution “to show the lessons we will learn”. Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium) also underlined that this was a “continuing tragedy” that is being spoken about today but one that has resulted in some 25,000 victims over the course of the last 20 years. “This drama could have been avoided”, regretted Marie-Christine Vergiat (GUE/NGL, France), giving the same figures.
While Flautre criticised the complaints from FRONTEX (the border management agency) about its budget, Verhofstadt called for more money for “every European body that can help avoid such tragedies”.
Verhofstadt, like the leader of the Socialist Group, Hannes Swoboda (Austria), argued that help should be given to the migrants' countries of origin. Swoboda also argued for support for transit countries, such as Tunisia and Lebanon, and for the end of national penalties for those who help migrants. The S&D urged European Council President Herman Van Rompuy to put the issue on the agenda of the next heads of state and/or government meeting, on 24-25 October.
The Greens and the Liberals also called on the EU to develop a common migration policy. “We built a house but forgot the doors, so people are coming in by the windows”, stated Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens/EFA, France). He added that immigration rules were needed to allow the doors to open. (EL/transl.fl)