Debating in plenary on the European agenda on migration

Watch my intervention here.

– Madam President, during the last few months this continent has been faced with an unprecedented number of refugees fleeing from conflicts and oppression. The response from national leaders has frankly been quite pathetic. We have seen calls for systematic mass refoulement of refugees at our borders, in obvious contravention of international humanitarian laws and the Treaties and laws of the Union.

We have seen the reintroduction of internal border controls despite calculations from the Bertelsmann Institute indicating that only the financial cost of the collapse of Schengen could be as high as EUR 1.4 trillion over a 10-year period. We have seen Member States engaging in a race to the bottom with regard to the reception standards for refugees, hoping that this would push them elsewhere.

But what we have not witnessed, however, is European leadership and a willingness to move towards the only solution that can in the long-term return sovereignty and control of the situation to the peoples of Europe. In other words, joint action with the Community method to ensure a fair, reasonable division of the responsibilities for the people fleeing.

What we need is for us to manage our borders together, to share the responsibility for receiving refugees together, to find ways to repatriate those that do not meet the criteria for international protection, and that we do this together under dignified conditions.

Commissioner Avramopoulos and First Vice-President Timmermans, keep up the good work within the Commission and propose now a true European solution, not least in the upcoming Dublin reforms. It is high time for the Commission and this Parliament to take the lead, together with a few courageous leaders we still can count on in Council. Why? Because Europe simply deserves it today.