Debate on the European Agenda on Migration during the EP plenary session in Strasbourg. Statements by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&D, IT), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), Gabriele ZIMMER (GUE/NGL, DE) and Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL)

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

migration and refugees in Europe (T)

SARGENTINI, Judith (Greens/EFA, NL)

ZIMMER, Gabriele (GUE/NGL, DE)

KIRKHOPE, Timothy (ECR, UK)

European Agenda on Migration: MEPs debate

SOUNDBITE (German), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), "We do have to do something about tackling trafficking and smuggling of human beings so we have to keep such proposals on the table. Partnership with countries of origin is something that we also welcome. We are going to have this  Summit with partner countries  in Malta .That's a good initiative."

SOUNDBITE (German), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), "We have to get proposals put into practice, I 'd like to say to the Commissioners that those who have not stuck to the rules , they have to be returned. This is only way that we can ensure that we don't lose the confidence of our citizens on the long term."

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), "The strategy comes down to solidarity towards the men and women who cross the Mediterranean, solidarity for the people in Member States who are most exposed to migratory flows and the Commission' s strategy contains all the responses to the challenges of migration."

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), "We need to put an end to the smugglers' networks. We have to use all the instruments that we have. We shouldn't show caution here , we'got to break up these networks leading to such wide scale death."

SOUNDBITE (English), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), "We have a moral duty to assist one another but I do not believe that this assistance should undermine the key international principle of humanitarian and asylum law, that individuals sould be able to seek sanctuary  in the first country reached."

SOUNDBITE (English), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), "I do not believe that quotas and forced relocation is sustainable, democratic or fair to the individuals in question. It is a mistake to have a strategy which addresses all kind of migrations in one document. Economic and asylum are two very different issues with separate challenges. And this joint strategy blurs lines which should be clear."

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), "I strongly support Vice President the Commission's proposal on migration because I think you have taken your responsibility and that's not the case for the Council. You have in fact taken a stand that is absolutely necessary because promoting the interest of all rather than focusing on single Member states , that is what we have to do to tackle this problem."

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele ZIMMER (GUE/NGL, DE), "The package being proposed by the Ministers basically is one involving repression. Repression of the refugees and these are people who are in enormous difficulties and many repressing them . It does not give any contribution to solving their problems , it only causes more terrorists to come  and I don't think we are going to solve the problem of people smuggling with military means."

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), "We can not go down the road of what we hear for the moment. Anti European, xenophobic talk where people are mixing everything: asylum seekers, refugees, economic migrants, it's not simply acceptable even to equate what some people are doing and to equate migrants to terrorists."

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele ZIMMER (GUE/NGL, DE), "As soon as the military are deployed there is a risk of shots being fired and there is talk of vessels being destroyed and that means there are risks of people dying."

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL), "What about the proposals for facilitating Palestinian nannies, They are going at their work illegally, work that nobody else wants to do. What about proposals on circular migration, you can drop an agenda for a week , you can drop an agenda for a couple on months,  where you can drop on agenda until the cows come home  and the migrants are still on the other side of the frontier, but unfortunately we don't see the kind of proposals that we need put forward."