Debate on Communication on implementing the European agenda on migration&nbsp;during the EP Plenary session (7-10 March) in Strasbourg. Statements by Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Cornelia ERNST (GUE/NGL, DE), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK) and Elmar BROK (EPP, DE)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

migration and refugees in Europe (T)

SIPPEL, Birgit (S&D, DE)

BROK, Elmar (EPP, DE)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

ERNST, Cornelia (The Left, DE)

KIRKHOPE, Timothy (ECR, UK)

Communication on implementing the European agenda on migration: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, The push factors driving the flows are unlikely to be reversed in the foreseeable future. Tens of thousands of people are still fleeing the war in Syria, and Europe will remain attractive to those who are looking for a better life. As Europeans, we cannot and will not turn our backs on our moral and international legal obligations to provide protection for those who need it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Last week the Commission put forward a road map to bring the Schengen area back to normality by the end of this year. I'm glad that this road map was fully endorsed by the Heads of State or Governments yesterday.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, In our road map we identify three key priorities. First, Greece needs to address the serious deficiencies in its border management, with the assistance of the Commission, EU agencies and other Member States.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, We need to see Greece return to the Dublin system, in line with the recommendations we made on the 10th of February. To the longer run, we need to take a fresh look at Dublin, in order to make sure that we build a sustainable European asylum system.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Second, the way through approach has to stop now. And consequentially we need to urge this step-up help for Greece in dealing with those presents on its territory.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Third, we need to apply the Schengen rules to ensure the future of Schengen. The road map makes clear that Commissioners are ready if needed to propose a coordinated European approach for temporary internal border controls in May. Such controls would be targeted at the parts of the border where they are necessary, and would be limited in time, with the aim of phasing them out by December.

SOUNDBITE (English), Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), Europe is losing its value as a place not of just relative prosperity, but as a place where we defend freedom, democracy, and where we respect fundamental rights. And this concerns and affects refugees, and this is also a fatal message sent out to our own citizens.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Schengen is crucial in terms of Europe's overall security, but it is also economically and politically necessary. We have seen that the cost of reintroducing border controls would be between five and eighteen billion euros every single year. So we need to do much more to ensure our external borders are secure, and that security standards remain high.

SOUNDBITE (German), Cornelia ERNST (GUE/NGL, DE), What's happening to the refugees at the moment can only be described as cynical, because Member States in the EU don't want to take refugees themselves, there seems to be a false trading, and the idea is that illegal migrants will be sent back to Turkey and that you'll get legal ones to be settled.

SOUNDBITE (English), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), We must first make the rules we have in place work, a chance to work at least and to make them work better, rather than always produce more policy based on desperation. Of course I'm supportive of a lot of the proposals the Commission comes forward with, building upon and enhancing the mechanisms we already have in place, and they will help us protect the externals borders, help make returns more efficient and offer solidarity in the system through EASO and FRONTEX. And Vice-President Timmermans has offered us assurance today in all these respects, but nowhere in the current established rules does it say that we should take actions in contradiction to our own asylum laws, hand over huge sums of money with no proper guarantees in return, and abandon the Copenhagen criteria in exchange for nothing more than a promise.

SOUNDBITE (German), Elmar BROK (EPP, DE), Mrs Merkel has always been attacked, because she's told to be too harsh toward Turkey when it comes to raising the bridges of minorities' rights, and human rights. Mrs Merkel is a champion here of Turkish human rights, and I think it was chapters 22 and 23 that should be open now, and we could talk with Turkey about media freedom, religious freedom, and these are essential conditions that Turkey is far from fulfilling because of what has happened recently, and that is the position of Mrs Merkel.