mr president the british press assisted to such a conclusion by paranoid and euro-sceptic meps has scaremongered that a future commissioner for fundamental rights which mr barroso has accepted at the proposal of the alde group will force the uk to accept more asylum seekers from across europe
this is not true
as vice-president barrot has confirmed the pilot project to assist malta is voluntary and the proposed scheme to resettle unhcr-approved refugees directly from outside europe would also be non-compulsory
no element of eu policy has ever involved quotas or compulsion on national acceptance of migrants
however what we do try and get is voluntary solidarity and i do hope that a future fundamental rights commissioner will make a contribution to stopping migrants meeting their death in the mediterranean
ten years ago next month the eu set the goal of a common asylum system and coordinated migration policies
despite some considerable efforts especially by the european commission with the support of meps we are clearly a long way from that
the top priority is to get some proper management of the flows which are usually what are called mixed flows of refugees and job-seeking migrants so as to distinguish between the two
this is to give confidence to the european public of proper management as well as to stop loss of life and to ensure protection for those qualifying for it
if people in frail boats are pushed back out to sea and never assessed for protection none of those goals is achieved
i am shocked to hear from commissioner barrot that member states do not apply maritime law uniformly
such disarray is unacceptable
frontex must be properly resourced and respect human rights of individuals
those individuals must be allowed to land and be assessed for asylum status and sorted into refugees and those not qualified to stay
eu member states must if necessary be taken to the european court of justice for failing to do so and the idea as my colleague sonia alfano has said that libya is capable of doing that job instead is completely outrageous given its gross human rights abuses
a rational european immigration policy would involve some common framework of criteria for economic migration within which member states accepting such migrants can operate under their own decisions on the numbers they take
what we need is the coordination the common standards the common framework and then the solidarity as well
