Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:00:33
The meeting is open.
Proposed changes in the composition of committees have been published in document Commissions (2019) 07 Add. 3.
Are there any objections to these changes?
This is not the case, therefore they are adopted.
The agenda includes the presentation and discussion of the report by Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ on behalf of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, entitled "Saving persons in the Mediterranean Sea: the need for an urgent answer" ( document 14971).
In view of the large number of speakers on the list, I propose that we extend the debate on this report slightly and conclude this debate at 11:45 a.m. So, to conclude our meeting this morning at 12:15 p.m. instead of at 12 p.m. as originally planned. This means that we should be able hear the maximum interventions possible but also handle the many amendments that have been filed. Once the list of speakers finishes at 10:50 a.m. we will be able to hear the replies to the Committee and the vote necessary.
Mr President, you have a total of 13 minutes. You can divide it as you see fit between the presentation of your report and the response to the various interventions.
You have the floor.
Thank you, Madame Chair,
Merci, la Madame Président,
Chéres colleagues,
Even now, as we speak, many people are daring the waters of the Mediterranean to reach European shore. Regardless of their motivation for such a dangerous undertaking, whether they are running away from war, poverty, climate changes or something else, the fact remains that some of them will never reach the shore, as the salty waters of the Mediterranean will become their grave.
According to the records of IOM, UNHCR and Frontex, in the last six years, 18,888 people have lost their lives while trying to cross the Mediterranean. These figures are far from complete, and it is safe to assume that the real number is much, much higher. This is why we are debating this report in this august chamber, as we have debated similar reports on several occasions before, last time in June 2018. We have drawn attention to this problem time and time again. But now is not the time to draw attention, now it is time to demand action, hence the words in the title “the need for an urgent response.”
Let me underline, at this point, that the objective of the report is not to accuse anyone of anything, but rather to urge everybody to action. Not only Mediterranean countries, because this is not only their problem, but it is —or rather it should be— the problem of us all. I fully understand the pressure that Malta is under, as a small country with a large influx of migrants, as well as the positions of Italy and Spain, and I have personally witnessed the situation in Greece and Cyprus. I hope I can speak on behalf of all members present when I say that we highly appreciate all their efforts to save lives and uphold our principles. We see you and stand by you. A solution for responsibility sharing across the whole European Union is needed, but that is not the objective of this report, although we recognise it and call for it.
Operations like Mare Nostrum of Italian coast guards, Operation Sophia and Triton and efforts of coast guards of Malta, have saved thousands of lives. Nevertheless, despite these efforts, deaths by drowning continue. This is why I feel it is important to call for a launch of a new European Union rescue mission, especially since the previous ones have proven so effective. Furthermore, it is only natural to cooperate with other efforts aimed at saving lives as our main objective should be just that: to avoid the loss of lives. NGOs and other private initiatives, as well as all vessels enforcing international maritime law, have a role in this mission. Their role must be acknowledged and used in order to maximise efficiency of saving lives at sea.
Ladies and gentleman, we like to pride ourselves for our principles. We like to pride ourselves for respect for human rights. But, I ask you, what is a more basic human right than the right to live? Can we so easily chose to ignore that fundamental right? Talmud says: “he who saves one life, saves the world entire.” Colleagues, if we save a single life with this resolution, we have saved the world. Maybe not in its entirety, but definitely the world of the person saved, their hopes and dreams, their loves.
Dear friends, at the end of the day we shall all have to look ourselves in the mirror. It is impossible to outrun the reflection staring back at us, no matter how much we may try, it shall return to stare directly back into our eyes. I for one, would like to see in the eyes of that reflection that I made a difference today, that I saved the world, that because of me some dreams and hopes and loves still exist. I invite you to share this with me, and yes, you can do that, —you can— by supporting this resolution. I invite you to save the world, even if it is a small world, of a single person saved. That small, saved world gives august meaning to our work here, and all we stand for.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:07:32
Thank you.
You have a remaining time of 7 minutes and 40 seconds.
In the general debate, I call Ms ÆVARSDÓTTIR on behalf of the Socialist Group.
Thank you.
Iceland, SOC, Spokesperson for the group
10:07:52
Thank you Madam Chair.
Thousands of people have died in the Mediterranean in the past years. These are numbers that seem incomprehensible if you think about it. Europe allows thousands to drown at its shores. It doesn't really take any kind of care whatsoever to rescue them. It even rejects boats, that have taken it upon themselves to bring people to safety, from entering their shores. Where is the humanity in that? I would ask. Have we such small little souls, that we cannot help those who are literally drowning at our shores? That we cannot let them step foot on land, once they have been rescued by people who cannot stand by and watch? We make backroom deals about how we keep them away and how we send them back, never once truly looking in the mirror and asking where do these people come from, why are they coming, what is it that propels them to risk their lives to cross the ocean.
Maybe we have something to do with that, here on this continent. We and our allies, with our guns and our realpolitik. I think, in the refugee crisis, realpolitik has been guiding the minds and the mindset of our leaders. But there's nothing kind, there's nothing humane, there's nothing really genuine in any way behind talking about finding ways of getting people to stay in Libya.
Who is responsible for the situation in Libya? If I might ask. Should we not truly look into the mirror and wonder why are all of these people coming here, and stop looking at them as some sort of dirty secret problem that we have to fix somehow? Should we not start seeing it as our responsibility to bring people to safety? Seeing it as our responsibility to ensure that the drownings stop? One thousand people just this year already. One thousand people. That's our responsibility, just as much as anyone else's.
I say shame on us. Shame on the European Union. Shame on all of us for letting this happen. We have to react now. We should have done it years ago. But let us not continue this horrible way.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:11:01
Thank you.
I call Mr GALE, on behalf of the European Conservatives Group.
United Kingdom, EC, Spokesperson for the group
10:11:09
Thank you, Madame President.
I had some difficulty in getting here. Forgive me while I catch my breath. But I have heard from the back the opening remarks and, you will understand Madame President, we regard this as a very serious issue indeed. What we are talking about, basically, is people's lives. And I think the fundamental principle that we all have to address is how the prevention of loss of life can be achieved. That is true, in the Mediterranean, and of course it's true in the English Channel.
We face now not dissimilar circumstances in the appalling human traffic between France and Britain, as we see in the human trafficking —and that is what it is— across the Mediterranean. And I think what we need to address, fundamentally, is the root cause. Is how we find a measure of humanely preventing this traffic from taking place. We —and I don't doubt the authorities in the Mediterranean— make a huge effort to try to save life, once that life is at risk. But that life should not be put at risk in the first place.
And that is the basis, I think, of the problem that we have to address. We know —we know from our domestic experience— the Italians, the Greeks, the whole of the shores of the Mediterranean understand, from their experience, the manner in which brutal people —and they are brutal people— dealing in traffic, in flesh, in livestock, if you will, send people out to sea —whether that's the Mediterranean Sea, whether it's English Channel— in totally unseaworthy craft, very often with insufficient fuel to go more than maybe a few miles, in a cynical knowledge that either somebody will pick those people up, or they'll die.
And so far as the perpetrators of these crimes are concerned —and they are crimes— that could not matter less. They've got their money. They've taken the cash. They move on to the next shipment of livestock. We cannot allow this to continue. So, what I would urge all colleagues, whatever your political persuasions are, however humane or otherwise you may feel about this, whatever our views on immigration and the control of immigration, maybe, we have to address ourselves here in this Assembly to the saving of life. That means a twin approach, certainly, but first of all, the prevention of the traffic, and then second, to do our utmost to make sure that people don't die.
Thank you, Madame President.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:14:18
Thank you.
I call Ms STIENEN, on behalf of the Liberal Group.
Netherlands, ALDE, Spokesperson for the group
10:14:26
Madam President,
Allow me to quote our Commissioner for Human Rights to the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović: "Whilst states have the right to control their borders and ensure security, they also have the duty to effectively protect the rights enshrined in maritime, Human Rights and refugee laws”. This quote is from her statements on June 2019, when she issued her recommendation Lives saved. Rights protected. Bridging the protection gap for refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean. I recommend this report to all of our colleagues. It has an excellent analysis and excellent recommendations. It is worth reading and implementing.
Our Group supports this call of the Commissioner of Human Rights, and the need expressed in the report of Mr Damogoj Kajdukovic, for an urgent response in saving lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is imperative that the Council of Europe States, the European Union and individual European states, find a way to effectively protect the lives of humans, be it refugees, asylum seekers or migrants, on land or at sea. The protection of human rights should always prevail over any political dilemma or uncertainty that the interaction of different legal regimes, policies and practices may cause.
Let me be clear. In this urgent debate we are discussing saving lives. The discussion about refugees and migrants is related, but not the topic of today. The ALDE group does have a few objections to some of the wording and recommendations in the report. We consider these as topics for further discussion in this Parliamentary Assembly. For example, on the implementation of the recommendation of the Commissioner of Human Rights.
This report is, as I said, about saving human lives. And the ALDE Group fully supports this indeed.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:16:34
The next speaker is Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR, from the Group of the Unified European Left.
Iceland, UEL, Spokesperson for the group
10:16:43
Madame President,
The journey across the Mediterranean Sea is treacherous at best, deadly at its worst.
Hundreds of thousands have taken on this journey, to flee conflict and poverty in war-torn places, for the safety of Europe. Twenty thousand people have died on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea during the last six years. Migrants and refugees, desperate to escape from wars, droughts, poverty and inequality, to a European shelter.
Many are coming from North Africa in rubber dinghies and wooden boats —women and children among them, many children on their own —unaccompanied, scared and vulnerable. And the death toll remains. We need to ask ourselves if the member states' policies are effective enough to cope with this challenge. The answer is no.
The scale of the problem is such, that we need to further action now. We must respect our international obligation and member states must coordinate their efforts to protect lives that can be lost at sea.
More countries must join the agreement of some EU member states on the relocation of people rescued by NGOs. We must stop the push-back policy that Europe has been running for the last years. We simply cannot, any longer, put the responsibility of refugees and migrants on others, and turn a blind eye to the problem.
We must open our ports, but we must put more effort on tackling the root of this all; tackling poverty and inequality, stop warfare and work decisively on peace-building in struggling countries. We must act more decisively on combating climate change, as it has become one of the causes of war and political instability. We must take responsibility and share this responsibility among us.
Greece cannot solve this alone, nor Spain, Turkey, Malta or others. Let's launch a new European rescue mission, let's take united action to stop trafficking in human beings, and combat people smuggling. Let's stop training, financing and equipping the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, without raising any questions. Let's allow NGOs to carry out their life-saving missions in the Mediterranean Sea, ensuring the captains of all vessels rescuing migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean, are able to disembark them in the nearest port of safety.
But let's remember that it is the duty of the states —not NGOs— not to let people drown in the Mediterranean.
We must solve this together. Let us stop the blaming game, we must act together now. Let's open our ports and, not least, let's open our hearts. But most importantly, we have a duty not to let people drown on our doorstep.
That must come to an end now.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:19:46
Thank you.
I give the floor to Ms BAKOYANNIS, on behalf of the EPP Group.
Greece, EPP/CD, Spokesperson for the group
10:19:52
Dear colleagues,
Let me give you a little bit of the Greek experience.
The Greek experience is 800 people today, between eight o'clock in the morning and nine o'clock in the morning, arriving at the Greek island of Mitilini.
Before yesterday, a young mother 23 years old and her daughter of three years old drowned at a near island called Inusses. What does that mean? It means that thousands of people are coming again and trying to get to Europe. We had a crisis in 2015. I'm afraid we are in front of a new immigrant crisis now. This will continue. It will continue as long as traffickers are gaining a lot of money out of those desperate people.
Now, we not only need wishes, we need action. And their action can only be that there must be some very concrete agreements on how these people are getting into these lifeboats, which are death boats. Because these boats are made, for example in Turkey, there are whole industries building these boats. Single use boats and life vests, which cannot save the people. There must be some kind of agreement that this is a major crime. We cannot accept and just look at it and say "we must save the people". Believe me, the Greek navy and the Greek boats are doing this the whole day, 24 hours a day. We are having very little help from FRONTEX. We need a lot more help. But today, the major route is through the Aegean. A 115% increase in the last year. We need European help, but we also need some kind of decisions which must be implemented.
I understand that Turkey has nearly four million refugees today, but these refugees cannot be instrumentalised as pressure towards Europe, so that turkey does not make any kind of effort to stop them going to sea -if it isn't even facilitating it.
It is a very big problem. I don't believe that we can wait until January to re-discuss it, because trust me colleagues, if decisions are not made now, we will be in January facing, not thousand of deaths, but many many more dead people in the Mediterranean.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:23:13
Thank you.
Does the rapporteur wish to reply?
After the other speakers.
The next speaker is Mr CHENARD.
Thank you, Madam President.
I too would like to congratulate the rapporteur on this report, and thank you with clear words.
First and foremost, it's about human lives, and then it's about other issues. The Mediterranean, a cradle of humanity, cradle of culture, the cradle of the most important, great religions, is today a mass grave. Just today, a report from the UN has been published; and it will also be debated in Brussels.
We cannot accept this mass grave, no matter in which part of the Mediterranean. Whether it's in the Aegean now, whether it's at the height of Italy or Malta, or at the Spanish coasts. That is why we must all work together. As I said in a preliminary interview, Mare Nostrum was a heroic action to save lives, to secure them. We have to look ahead, make sure there are safe routes so that people do not have to board such unseaworthy vessels to come to Europe.
We need safe routes to save people who are in danger of persecution, families that are about to die. We need less, I would say, unethical agreements, such as those we have with Turkey or Libya. Europe must create its own ways to enable people to arrive safely in Europe. Europe is big enough, and Europe, in its demographic winter, also has the need for people to come and join us, and become part of our community.
But we must stop these deaths in the Mediterranean. That is why we have to join forces. This is the responsibility of the European Union and the nation states, but NGOs are doing a heroic job. As I said once before, we should definitely propose captain Carola Rackete for the Václav Havel Prize, because what she has done, and the courage she has shown to save human lives, is heroic and deserves all our respect.
Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:26:27
The next speaker is Mr NÉMETH.
Madame President,
Secretary General,
Dear colleagues,
I would like to express a grave concern about the large number of refugees who have left, who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe. In order to avoid the rising death by sea, we need to give urgent responses. I one hundred percent agree with that.
The transport alone, however, of the illegal migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to the EU will not stop this process, but generate further pull factors, creating more dangerous journeys. The process will only serve the interests of the smugglers, and definitely not the interests of those who spend enormous amounts on the perilous journey, but are not entitled to protection.
According to statistics, in the first instance, the recognition rate is 34% in the European Union's comprehensive approach. Do not import the problem, but to export the solution is needed. First of all, safe ports are needed for the successful establishment of disembarkation platforms. Thus, the European Union should support stability in North African countries, such as Libya.
In addition, the international community should provide assistance to the concerned countries in the region, to comply with their international obligations in the field of search and rescue mechanisms, as well as border protection. At the same time, capacity building and developing of reception conditions are necessary in the African host and transit countries. Therefore, I simply do not see why the report is intending to terminate the Libyan Coast Guard development project.
Finally, illegal migration through the Mediterranean is fuelled, basically, by instability in both Africa and the Middle East. The ongoing crisis in Syria fuels migration, therefore all relevant actors should intensify their efforts to end the crisis. Rehabilitation and long-term stabilisation are necessary to allow refugees and migrants to return to their homelands. Hungary takes its fair share through the Hungary Helps Programme, for example. It is the interest of Europe to address the root causes of illegal migration, so we can put an end to this phenomena, which only benefits those who exploit this situation; exploit for their narrow-minded business or political interest.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:29:28
Thank you.
I give the floor to Mr SCHWABE.
Madame President,
Dear Colleagues,
Today is an urgent debate and indeed an urgent debate not about migration. You can talk about it many times, but today it is not about migration. Incidentally, there has always been migration, as we can see in many reports we make on minority rights, on language, on labor migration. Today, it is simply the question and the debate over how we deal with people who drown in the Mediterranean, who drown miserably. Whether we try to reach out to these people and simply preserve their lives, their naked lives and their dignity. This debate is an outcry of outrage over a real European shame. I believe that will happen in the future and we will look back historically and say that it is a European shame to let thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people drown on our doorstep in the Mediterranean. 928, these are the current official numbers. Maybe it is more. Alone this year.
That does not work, ladies and gentlemen. This report, for which I cordially thank Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ, says this should end immediately. Two things are necessary for that: on the one hand we have to recognize the non-governmental organizations, Mr Stefan SCHENNACH has mentioned some that save human lives, nothing but that and we should stop criminalization. They are the heroes of our time. It is the people who reach out to other people; what everybody would do. Even people who criticize that, I'm sure if they were there and if they were on the ship, you would rescue this people. I was on a ship in January: you would hold the hands of these people, you could not bear to let someone drown. That's why it's right and fortunate that there are now a couple of states that have set out to arrange a distribution mechanism for burden sharing, for these few hundred, maybe a few thousand people. That we agree on burden sharing means that people should be brought quickly to other states; that countries like Malta, which are really in a big difficulty, will be helped as well.
But what we need is the wish and the urgent request to the European Union –because the Council of Europe can not do it– is an inter state solution. It is the task of European states and at the end of the European Union to launch a inter-state rescue mission. We have already talked to President Macron about this. Chancellor Merkel has said that she wants to launch such an initiative at European level. And it is our organization, I think, that has to do everything we can to ensure that the European Union moves forward on this. We are talking about Memorandums of Understanding. If it is the case that the European Union has the capacity, and that we are the Human Rights organization of Europe, then we must ask and urge the EU to launch such a mission. That is why I ask for broad support for this motion.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:32:41
The next speaker is Ms MONTARULI.
I want to thank the rapporteur for the report itself, and for giving us an opportunity to reflect, once again, on the deaths in the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean must return to being a sea without blood, because every time a person dies at sea, it is our civilization that is defeated. It is the opposition of civilization against barbarism, it is the opposition of the value of life against commodification and materialism.
It seems completely simplistic to address this important and delicate subject, speaking only of rescues at sea, when the rescue should take place well before: before desperate people are put into the hands of traffickers, and before their hopes, their lives and their sensibilities are put into the hands of criminal organizations. It is there that we, the national countries, the European Union, all of us, have the responsibility to save, because everything that happens afterwards is a remedy that comes too late. Too late.
We should not accept, in the name of our humanity, that lives are put in insecure boats to face desperate journeys in our sea.
To avoid this, we must first undertake a relentless repression of criminal organizations. But, at the same time, we must all work together for a Mediterranean of peace, to solve the root causes which push people to cross the whole of Africa, and, yes, be subject to violence; I think of many women who are raped every day, or are subjected to forced labour, before being able to enter a boat and leave.
If we stop at the Mediterranean, we only clean our consciences. Perhaps, yes, an honour to a captain of any NGO can make us say that we are better than others. But beware: who grants them this honour? Countries that have denied their ports to these people.
I would have liked to hear more about how NGOs are not the solution to saving people at sea; because we, the States, are the solution to this terrible problem.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:35:51
The next speaker is Ms VERDIER-JOUCLAS.
Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to thank and congratulate my colleague Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ for the work done on a hot topic, a dramatic subject and a subject on which we really must react now. Because, as has been said and repeated: it is about human lives.
This morning, in Committee, you quoted the President of the Republic Emmanuel MACRON who said: "When the migrants are on the boats, it is already too late". So we must act before reaching this stage. But it is not so simple and we must all here, firstly, be united in this fight against the smugglers, and then, manage to welcome them with dignity. Which we do not do today. It is our responsibility and our honour, and I am proud that France is the country that has welcomed the most migrants from boats of the Mediterranean. But we must do more.
However, I have several questions, Mr Rapporteur.
What mechanism could ensure no crimimal liability for NGOs working in the context of rescue operations at sea? A state/NGO protocol specific to each country, defining the framework for such operations? Granting NGOs the right to humanitarian intervention? Or something else?
With regard to your point 3, what are the obstacles currently observed to a more effective relocation of migrants, as you point out?
Finally, regarding hosting in the nearest ports, given their geographical proximity to the places of departure of migrants, these same ports are at risk of absorbing the majority of flows. So what are the possible European financing mechanisms to improve hosting in these ports, which we all want here?
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:38:16
Thank you.
I give the floor to Mr ZRINZO AZZOPARDI.
Madam President.
Secretary General.
Colleagues,
This debate cannot be carried out without a correct assessment of the current situation in the Mediterranean.
And the reality is: scruple-less traffickers are making money by selling space on inadequate boats, and strand vulnerable migrants, who often can’t swim, in the Mediterranean Sea.
The number of persons attempting a crossing have been steadily increasing, thus the risk of more persons perishing at sea. Yet rescues have, and are being carried out, in the best way possible, according to international law and humanitarian obligations. But it’s only a few frontier countries, like my country Malta, a small island with a high population density, who are undertaking these rescues.
Only these frontier countries are currently shouldering all the responsibility to save migrants’ lives at sea. This is not fair. It feels like we have been left alone to deal with this, even though, particularly in the case of my country, we have limited resources. And we cannot wait any longer for the Dublin rules to be reformed.
So, in the meantime, the Maltese, Italian, German and French governments, together with the Finnish Presidency and European Commission, have prepared a draft ‘way forward’ to ease the pressure on front-line states that cannot cope. This plan will be discussed at next week’s JHA Council, in the hope of gaining wider Member State support and action.
On a daily basis, we are trying our best to face the realities. More than our best. In 2019, there were four times the amount of arrivals than in 2018. The situation is unsustainable.
Currently, there are concerns about the amount of stress our reception facilities are currently under. But with the size of our country and workforce, we are acting with great difficulty, and we cannot continue to carry this responsibility alone.
Rescuing should be done by a mix of properly equipped vessels, with trained staff, following a rotation system of disembarkation in safe ports. We need to tackle this in the correct manner. The way forward, in my opinion, cannot depend on rescues carried out by NGO vessels.
And, whilst each Member State must carry its responsibilities, we also need a long-term plan which includes a fully-equipped and functional Libyan Coastguard, even if we need to look into the way this coastguard would act. Action against traffickers is imperative. We must all express the need for a clear way forward to achieve a stable Libya.
The Malta Migration Meeting proposals must commence with immediate effect.
We must strive more together, to continue working towards a more permanent solution. The way forward is more collaboration between all European states. The frontier countries cannot be left alone any longer.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:41:45
I call Mr JALLOW.
Thank you very much.
Madam President,
This is an extremely important discussion. Today, we're going to hear people say we need equal sharing. Don't listen to it too much, because it's a distraction. We're going to hear people talking about how to attack the root causes of this problem. It is a distraction. We're going to hear people say we don't have resources and we need to assess the situation. It is a distraction.
Madam Chair, what we're discussing here today is how to stop people dying in the Mediterranean. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about an ardent situation, where people are drowning every single day. We sit here and we talk about how to have long-term plans, how to have long conferences and discussions, whilst people are drowning and dying every day. It's not acceptable.
We have to do away with the distractions, and talk about what we actually are supposed to talk about: people dying.
Madam Chair, it is said that already, over a thousand people have drowned just this year. In Europe, we have globalised capital because you can move capital from Africa to Europe without any problems, but we have no globalised Human Rights. If people want to move from Africa, from Syria or from the Middle East to Europe, it's a problem. We create barriers, externalised borders. We use taxpayer's money to pay criminals who capture, enslave and torture people in Libya. We pay them from Europe, with taxpayer's money. That is not acceptable. We need to speak about that, because that means we contribute to the situation that we see in Libya by giving them resources to torture and enslave black people. We've all seen this. It's not a secret.
Madam Chair, as a Member of this very important gathering, and also as a person of African descent, this is a very, very important topic for me to discuss, because it's very close to home.
Madam Chair we, cannot distract ourselves from the realities that are taking place in the Mediterranean today. That's why we should focus on the debate.
We should stop externalising borders. We should make sure that we stop criminalising voluntary rescuing missions. If we have failed in making sure that people are not dying, when ordinary citizens want to help out, and they voluntarily go to sea to search and rescue people, we cannot be criminalising them. We complain that we don't have the resources. Europe is one of the richest continents, and it is only a fraction of the refugees that come to Europe. Most of them are in poor countries. The poor countries are not complaining as much as Europe is complaining. This is not acceptable, Madam Chair.
We need to make sure that we live up to the obligations that we have when it comes to Human Rights standards. We need to make sure, Madam Chair, that people can have the right to come and apply for asylum, and run away from wars and conflicts that, most of the time, we are part in creating.
Thank you
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:45:08
I call Mr WHITFIELD.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
And it's a great pleasure to discuss this today. Which is, perhaps, one of the most urgent things that's facing —not just Europe— but the world. And I complement the rapporteur and the staff in the preparation of the report.
The Mediterranean, at its deepest point 5 267 metres deep. It averages 1 500 metres. It covers 2.5 million kilometres squared. It has a temperature that ranges from 30 to 72 degrees, and is the largest enclosed sea in the world. It has 46 000 kilometres of coastline. It is a sea that sits in our combined memory, as part of the start of civilisation. It is the sea route that led to the development of Europe and of North Africa. And it sits on so many people's holiday postcards, but it is a sea that is full of death today. And that's why this urgent debate is so important.
We have heard about people, governments and organisations that want to widen the debate as to why people find themselves in that sea. But it is a long-standing and fundamental tradition of every seafarer that, when they go out to sea, if they see somebody in trouble, they go to help. They do it because they expect the same if their vessel is in trouble. It is not why they are at sea that leads to the question "should they be rescued?". It's not how much money they have. It's not how much problem they're going to cause.
The ancient people that stepped on boats and took to the sea, the people who took to the sea during war, the people who've taken to the sea to explore and trade, know that if they see somebody in trouble, they go to rescue. But only the Mediterranean has people who are not on that sea —politicians and governments— send instructions that, on this occasion, you are not to help, you are not to land. That is a disgrace. That is a disgrace for those people who are not at that sea.
Today, we have the opportunity, with this report, to send back the statement that we go back to the basic humanitarian demand, that if you see someone in trouble, if you see them drowning —be they child, woman, man— you put your arm over the side of that ship and you help. There are many answers to why the problem is occurring, but the problem is occurring today, and we can take a step, in this place today to speak, to the people of Europe and wider and say "enough is enough". The death in the Mediterranean must stop.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:48:24
I call Ms GAFAROVA.
Thank you very much Ms President.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The issue we discuss today is extremely important. It is timely and needed. I would like to thank my colleague Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ for his work on this issue. As a former Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons I can say that Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ was extremely interested in working on these subjects, certain aspects of which he already addressed in the report he prepared in 2018 on the extraterritorial processing of asylum claims and the creation of safe refugee shelters abroad.
In this report the rapporteur presents a comprehensive overview of the situation with a focus on practices and particular problems in certain member states. It is clear that this report is motivated by the persisting tragedy still playing out in the Mediterranean Sea, with new deaths reported daily by the media and international organisations, and the continuing degradation of human lives through trafficking and smuggling.
It should be mentioned that our Assembly continues to be appalled by the high number of lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea by asylum seekers who are trying to reach Europe on makeshift boats. I support calls on member states to respect their international obligations that coordinate the efforts to protect lives at sea and to devote special attention to assistance for vulnerable migrants such as children women, disabled persons and those in need of particular medical or psychological support.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's well known that the movement of populations across the continent has sometimes signified invasion, confrontation and war. Unfortunately in our contemporary context, which combines economic stress and political doubt, the rise of extremist forces and the threat of an ecological meltdown there is a global tendency towards introspection and hostile nationalism based on a fear of foreign influences which might upturn traditions, burden struggling economies and challenge the fragile status quo.
Dear colleagues, it should be mentioned that one of the consequences of the present migration and refugee crisis is the growing influence of populist parties which very often use false arguments against migration. I think that it is our responsibility to provide our people with unbiased and objective information.
I agree with the rapporteur that laws, regulations, guidelines, best practices, initiatives and mechanisms for fulfilling the undisputable obligation to save lives at sea and to alleviate the hardships endured by those who leave their homes not by free will but by absolute necessity. These provisions must be taken into account and applied to ensure a greater respect for human rights and equality.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:51:47
Mr FASSINO has the floor.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I would like our debate not to be taken for granted, because I believe that no one in this forum disagrees with the fact that we must save lives and avoid, after 20,000 people have died in 6 years, other deaths. So it is clear that we must do everything to save human lives.
After that, I would like this Assembly to also be aware that there are a number of issues related to saving lives. Starting with the fact that, once you have saved human lives, you need to know where you take them, how you welcome them and who manages them.
From 2012 to 2016, 600,000 people landed on the Italian coasts. And not to come to Italy, but to Europe. Most European countries have refused to see this reality and accept a redistribution of these migrants.
So, you say here "save human lives", and then think that someone else is dealing with it. We must be honest and sincere among us. We save human lives and we must make sure, together, that we welcome and integrate them. This is my first consideration.
I come to the second one: most of those who arrive are not refugees in the strict sense. There are those who come from Syria or Libya, which are theatres of war and conflict, but we know that most of them are economic migrants.
So, here too, we must avoid the argument that we welcome refugees, but not economic migrants. I would like to point out that, from now until the end of this century, Europe will have 70 million fewer inhabitants based on the current birth rate dynamics, and, therefore, Europe needs an additional demographic contribution.
If it is true, as Macron said, that the humanitarian protection of refugees cannot be extended to any migrant —and it is true— there is also a corollary: alongside humanitarian protection, we must have a European strategy to understand how to regulate the flows of economic migrants.
Simply saying that we take one or the other is not an answer. It's hypocrisy.
Managing the migration issue is a serious matter. Everyone here was told to take responsibility.
Exactly: let us assume all the responsibilities. Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
10:54:57
Thank you, Mr FASSINO.
We must now interrupt the hearing of the speakers. Those who were present during the debate, were on the list and could not speak, can send their typed speech to the communication service for publication in the minutes. As far as possible, the speech must be submitted electronically.
Thank you.
I call on the Committee to reply. Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ, you have 7:40 minutes left, you have the floor.
Thank you, Madame Chair,
First of all, allow me to start with thanks to all the countries, to all the NGOs, and to all of you personally who have contributed in saving lives and bringing attention to this very important topic. Danke, thank you, merci, grazie, spasiba, gracias, teşekkür, ευχαριστώ.
Thousands of people have died just here, just this year, as we have heard. And what President MACRON said, what we heard, is that when these people are on the boats, we have already failed. Our mission is to discourage the people to go on such a perilous journey. And I fully support the initiative that the interior ministers have reached in Malta, in late September, with initiative from France, Germany, Malta, Italy, Finland and, I hope —I strongly hope, and I say so in the report— that as many countries as possible, EU countries, will follow, will take the responsibility and will face what Mr Fassino said. This is not only the problem of Mediterranean states, this is a problem of us all.
And we should really stop the blaming game. I do say so. People must be saved. What will happen to these people later? How will they be processed? Whether they will apply for asylum and get it or not. We have debated that time and time again in this chamber, and in numerous other reports, but we should focus on this one, which means saving lives.
Now, I'm fully aware of the problem that Greece and Cyprus are facing. And I could probably talk for half an hour about it. I have seen it firsthand, and I really do salute the Greek State and Cypress for all that you are doing. And I do call for solidarity, which is crucial in this problem. We cannot let our friends in Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy and Spain handle this problem alone.
Ships that save people, or rather captains that save people, must not be prosecuted because they're just enforcing the international maritime law, which says that people in peril at sea must be saved. Being prosecuted for that, I mean it's appalling that we even have to debate about. That should go without saying. That also applies to private endeavours, such as NGOs, but also, we had instances that private yachts, or cruiser ships, saved people because it's their obligation. It's their human obligation, moral obligation and law obligation as well. And that is not something to prosecute them for.
Human trafficking gangs are an extreme problem, and we also debated about that problem here on numerous occasions. Maybe, the time is ripe for another report, another resolution, and another debate on the approaches on how to combat them. And I fully agree that it is an extreme problem, but again, not the topic of this report.
Now, when it comes to the questions I've been asked about NGOs, and how to regulate their role in this issue, I call your attention to the report I'm preparing, that deals with NGOs' rights and obligations assisting refugees in Europe. That will be an appropriate moment to debate all the issues pertaining to this particular issue. Also, I would like to encourage all members who can contribute their ideas or their suggestions —the report is still in the stage where I can intervene quite a lot in the text. You have it on the Extranet, you have it in the papers, those who are members of the Migrations Committee.
And, finally, I would like to reiterate what I said at the beginning. This report is about saving lives, just that. To say "just" is an understatement, because it is extremely important and, as Talmud said —and that is the quote I especially like—, ladies and gentlemen, let's save the world. Even if it's a small world of a single person, their loves, their hopes, their fears —if you wish. But if we succeed in saving a single life, with this resolution, then we give an august meaning to our work here, and it really makes sense that we are here, and the work we're doing.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:00:30
Thank you, rapporteur.
I give the floor to the vice-chairman of the Committee.
Please, you must respect the order in this room and, in particular, the rapporteur of the Committee.
Thank you, Madam President.
Dear colleagues,
First of all, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur for leading the preparation of this report in record time, and for presenting an excellent text which I hope will be supported by everyone today. I also thank the speakers and members of the Committee I represent.
We have heard in our Assembly this morning a lot of sincerity, a lot of emotion. We have also heard a certain admission of inefficiency in our action and our policies because, really, the problem is not solved.
I remind you that we met in this same hemicycle more than a year ago, in June 2018, to debate the exact same subject with urgency.
What has happened in the meantime? What did we manage to achieve?
We really did not solve the problem. Lives continue to be lost at sea. Men, women, children —who have not asked for a life in such situations— undertake a life-threatening journey and, if they do not die, they often suffer from ill-treatment and suffer in their flesh from the bad conditions they have to endure.
As the resolution says, as members here today have said, we have an absolute duty, a moral duty, to help those people. We must absolutely meet the obligations we have subscribed to.
We must respect the fundamental values to which our countries have adhered in the Council of Europe. Providing relief and assistance to people at risk is an absolute obligation for all our countries, for all of us.
Some initiatives today give some hope for more solidarity. They are mentioned in the resolution. We must support them and do everything possible in this area.
We have a duty to share responsibility for the rescue and the reception of these refugees. Let's take the word "urgency" from the title, letter by letter, take this debate very seriously, and act urgently today to resolve these tragedies that are not acceptable.
Thank you for your support of this resolution.
(Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2)
We are speaking today about the life of families, mothers and children drowned every year in the Mediterranean. Whether there are in their majority refugees or immigrants is a false question. Factually speaking, International Amnesty still considers the flows to be comprised mainly by refugees. Still, the question is mute, because it would not change our obligations towards these people, since rescue at sea is an obligation by international law, pushbacks are forbidden and all asylum applications must be examined on an individual basis.
How we are going to act is important for the life of all these innocent victims, but also for our identity, national and individual, for our soul and for the character of our European polities.
The front-line states should not be left alone to face the challenges of refugees and migration pressure. An efficient and solidary common European policy is the only solution, passing through the change of Dublin Regulation. As President Macron has said, even participation to the Schengen space should be dependent on the willingness of states to show solidarity and comply to the responsibilities stemming from international instruments and for EU law.
The situation in our part of Europe becomes urgent and tense. Although the toll of victims remains relatively lower than in other parts of the Mediterranean the number of arrivals is exploding. Greece has received in 2019 45.600 refugees and migrants out of a total of 77.400 in the whole Mediterranean. Only in September we had 10.258 arrivals. So, the eastern route, the Aegean route remains the most active one.
Why this rise of numbers? Beyond Root causes, like inequality and poverty, and geopolitical push factors, like the war in Syria, there is also a conjectural factor: the instrumentalization of migration by Turkey. Rise of flows toward Greece is a real barometer reflecting the fluctuation of tension between Turkey and Europe. Therefore, Turkey should abstain from similar practices, fully implement the EU-Turkey agreement and dismantle smuggler networks.
Dear colleagues, we should avoid the nationalist temptation of Europe Fortress and reaffirm the openness of our societies and commitment to fundamental European values and respect of human rights.
Speech not pronounced (Rules of Procedure, Art. 31.2), only available in italian
Speech not pronounced (Rules of Procedure, Art. 31.2), only available in Italian
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:03:05
Thank you. That concludes the general debate.
The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons has presented a draft resolution to which 30 amendments have been tabled.
We will move on to the consideration of this draft resolution contained in Document 14971, the amendments will be taken in the order in which they are set out in the text, as published in the compendium of amendments.
I remind speakers that the intervention time for each amendment is limited to 30 seconds. I ask that you scrupulously respect this time limit.
Amendment No. 17, Mr KLEINWAECHTER has the floor to support it.
Thank you, Ms President.
It's a bit sad that you cut the speaker's list right before the speaker would have been in place for 13 amendments. But anyway, Amendment 17 seeks to replace the words "asylum seekers" with the word "migrants" because indeed most are actually not asylum seekers but migrants.
They may be asylum seekers or they may come for economic reasons, but we are mainly talking about migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and, therefore, it's more adequate to replace these words
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:04:17
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Mr... Please, I'm sorry, I do not know your name.
Madame, from the European Left.
This is factually incorrect. Amnesty International reconfirms that the basic profile of arrivals is still comprised of refugees. For instance, in Greece where we've had the highest rise, the vast majority of people coming are from Afghanistan and Syria.
Above all, this is not a relevant question. We're speaking about the lives of people. Flows are comprised both by asylum seekers, in their majority, and eventually immigrants, so we argue against the...
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:05:14
Amendment No. 17.
We will now proceed to vote on Amendment No. 17.
The Committee accepts by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:05:20
Amendment No. 17. We will now vote on Amendment No. 17.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
Amendment No. 17 is adopted.
Amendment No. 18.
There is a passage in paragraph 2 that talks about assuming responsibilities as member states. However, we cannot see any lack of responsibilities. All the European countries are bound by EU Treaties. They are bound by further treaties, so there is no lack of responsibility that we could criticise and should criticise and, therefore, this sentence should be taken out of paragraph No. 2.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:06:20
Does anyone wish to speak against this?
Mr Rapporteur.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
I am against this amendment because the call for accepting responsibilities and the necessary willingness to cooperate is extremely important, as we heard before from all the speakers. Even at the EU level, a new solution is being negotiated so I think it is extremely important to leave it in the report.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:06:45
Rejected by a large majority.
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:06:48
Rejected.
We will now vote.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
Amendment No. 18 is rejected.
We will go now to Amendment No. 29, Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
The same as I said before: replacing "asylum seekers" with the word "migrants".
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:07:20
Thank you.
Is someone speaking against?
Mr rapporteur.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
I have to be against here because the sentence is about processing asylum claims, so to replace it with "migrants" would make it lose any sense.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:07:34
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:07:38
Thank you.
We will vote on Amendment No. 29.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
Amendment No. 29 is rejected. Amendment No. 19, Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Thank you, President.
The paragraph talks about the duty of states not to let people drown, but that's already fulfilled. We have the duty to rescue in international maritime law, so a state cannot let anyone drown and there is no way to do that.
We asked for a changing of this passage to uphold the rule of law despite severe migration pressures, because it's only the rule of law and really pushing for legal a framework that will regulate the things orderly and will actually contribute to saving lives.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:08:30
Thank you. The next speaker is Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ.
I have to be against because states have the obligation under international law to carry out search and rescue operations in the territory of maritime borders.
It's the same thing with ambulances. If somebody is in the street and they are in need of urgent medical assistance the ambulance comes and helps the person. They don't ask him what their status is, whether they have applied for asylum or whether they have a passport. They help the person, they save a life, and this is about saving lives, so I'm against it.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:09:02
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:09:06
We will now vote.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
On to Amendment No. 20.
If it is adopted, Amendment No. 12 will fall.
Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Thank you.
Paragraph 4 talks about a continued denial of the basic human rights of migrants in the Mediterranean, which is not true. It's simply false. Any migrant has at all times the right to apply for a work visa; every migrant has the right to apply for a study visa; every migrant has the right to ask the country of destination to accept him as a potential immigrant. Therefore, it is simply wrong that any migrant would be deprived of basic human rights in the Mediterranean. We have to delete that.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:10:01
Thank you.
Anyone against the amendment, Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ?
As I said, what is a more basic human right than the right to live?
Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights protects the right to life and article 3 prohibits refoulement. Both rights have been at stake in several cases in this is why I'm against it.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:10:21
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:10:24
We will put it to the vote.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
We therefore move on to Amendment No. 12. Amendment No. 12 is the subject of an oral sub-amendment by the Committee.
I give the floor to Mr MANIERO to support Amendment No. 12.
Thank you, President.
Declaring that we are in a systematic denial of human rights in the Mediterranean means not only ignoring the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been saved, but it means seeing only what is lacking in our work and not what is achieved daily, especially by the border countries, often in terrible solitude.
If we want to tackle this problem, we must start from reality; and reality is not what is written in this report, it is not just this.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:11:27
Thank you.
As I have told you, by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons has referred to the Chair the following oral sub-amendment: in Amendment 12, after the words "paragraph 4", draft the end of the amendment, replace the words "in the face of denial" by the words "in the face of the challenge",
Pursuant to Rule 34.7 of the Rules of Procedure, the President may, exceptionally, declare an oral amendment or sub-amendment admissible if she considers that it is intended to provide clarification, to take account of new facts or to allow conciliation.
I think it is admissible.
Are there any objections to taking this oral sub-amendment into account?
Apparently not. So we will ...
Yes, sorry, Mr Fassino. Do you wish to defend the oral sub-amendment?
No. No. I think the oral sub-amendment ...
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:12:30
Do you oppose it?
In that case, at least ten representatives must rise to oppose the consideration of this oral sub-mendment.
If that is the case, we will not examine it, but there must be at least 10 members.
So, enough members have stood up. We do not pass this oral sub-amendment to the vote.
I would like to know if anyone is opposed to Amendment No. 12, as presented.
Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ.
Madame Chair,
I'm opposed to the amendment as it has been proposed. I wanted to insert a conciliatory sub-amendment because there are challenges to the basic human rights in the Mediterranean. Just in case to, you know, turn it down, so to say, that "denial" may be too harsh of a word. But when we say "challenges" that means the challenges do exist, that violations do exist, but there are some positive things as well.
So I'm against this word "assistance" too because then the paragraph will not make any sense.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:13:46
What is the opinion of the Committee?
So it is complicated because the Committee accepted the sub-amendment and then accepted the overall amendment in that context. So I do not have a clear position.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:13:59
Thank you. We will now proceed to vote on Amendment 12. The vote is open. The ballot is closed. Amendment number 12 is rejected.
We move on to amendment number 21, Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Well, paragraph 4.1 talks about place and rescue of men, women, and children in the Mediterranean above political and other considerations. Above all, we are an organisation that upholds the rule of law and, therefore, we also have to uphold democratic decisions and democracy. So, of course, you know, that will always be obliged to saving lives, but not in the sense that actually is portrayed in this report.
We demand that this passage is changed into: "upholding the rule of law and their democratic legal decisions and discuss their individual approaches on dealing with persons picked up in the Mediterranean Sea."
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:15:03
Someone opposes the amendment? Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ?
This is the same issue, basically, as one of the amendments before.
When the ambulance comes to help someone in the street, will they apply an individual approach and ask "do you have a passport?" "What's your legal status?" "Where are you from?" "What's your country of origin?" "Is it a safe country?"
The person will die while it is concluded, so I'm against it. I'm against it because our obligation is to save lives.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:15:36
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:15:41
Refuse.
We go to the vote. The poll is open. The poll is closed.
Amendment 21 is rejected.
We move on Amendment number 13.
Mrs YILDIZ.
Thank you Madam Chair.
By proposing this amendment we consider that the pushback actions do not only threaten refugees and migrants' lives, but also constitute a serious violation of the principle of non-refoulement as stated in the Geneva Convention. Therefore I think that it should be referred to in the draft resolution. Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:16:29
Does anyone wish to oppose this amendment?
This is not the case.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Accepted by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:16:39
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 13 is adopted.
Amendment number 14.
Ms YILDIZ.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Me and my colleagues believe that the report should also refer to the needs of most vulnerable refugees. Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:17:13
Thank you.
Someone opposes the amendment?
This is not the case.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Accepted by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:17:21
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed. Amendment 14 is adopted.
Amendment number 1.
I call Mr MOUTQUIN to introduce it. I do not see him.
Does anyone wish to speak in support of Amendment No. 1?
The rapporteur.
Thank you Madam Chair.
I'm in favour of this amendment since the LGBT+ group is often vulnerable due to their targeting by racist laws and actions in countries such as the death penalty in Pakistan and so on.
I think it is very important to clear this especially vulnerable group and single them out so I'm in favour.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:18:22
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Accepted by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:18:27
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment 1 is adopted.
We will move to Amendment number 22. If it passes, Amendment number 3 will fall.
Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Thank you very much. We demand to delete paragraph 4.3. It demands a new European Union rescue mission and it is against the will of many many people to have rescue missions paid for by the taxpayer, with boats going out and actually collecting migrants.
To comment on your comparison with the ambulance: a German ambulance wouldn't go to the Czech Republic or to Russia to save anyone. It would save at home: an international sea is an international sea. Therefore this is not adequate, what you're demanding here.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:19:25
Thank you. Mr SCHENNACH wishes to speak against the amendment.
I'm absolutely against this amendment. This is an important duty that the EU and the member states have to do and it's completely in the spirit of this report, the spirit of the whole debate, we have to do it. Please don't accept this amendment.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:19:47
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:19:50
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
Amendment number 3, Mr MANIERO.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Now, we all agree on the principle that NGOs and member states have to do their part, respectively. And we do all have to save lives, but repeating the same exact wording that we already have in paragraph 4 will not help us pass our thoughts through.
So please let's just avoid repetition so we don't give the impression we haven't actually read the document we are voting for.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:20:43
Thank you.
The Rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons was asked to take the following oral amendment: in the second sentence of paragraph 4.3, replace the words "not to let people perish in the Mediterranean" by the words "to adopt all necessary measures to save lives in the Mediterranean". I consider this moral amendment to be acceptable in light of the criteria of the regulation, but it can not be taken into account if at least 10 representatives and alternates oppose and rise. Are there any objections to taking this oral amendment into account?
Apparently, this is not the case. Therefore, we will first vote on Amendment number 3 and then, if necessary, if that happens, on the oral amendment.
Amendment number 3: Does anyone object to amendment number 3?
Mr Rapporteur.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
I think it is really important what the second sentence is saying, but I find the oral amendment acceptable. It would contribute to the report and that would avoid reiteration. So I would be in favour of the oral and amendment rather than this one.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:22:16
Thank you.
What is the opinion of the Committee on amendment number 3?
So, favorable.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:22:26
We will go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 3 is adopted.
But in these circumstances, the oral amendment falls.
We will go to amendment number 23.
Mr KLEINWAECHTER has the floor.
Thank you very much.
Paragraph 4.7 talks about the implementation of the United Nations Global Compact on safe orderly and regular migration and refugees. Those are Global Compacts that, among other things, demand the abolishing of illegal and legal migration in favour of regular and irregular migration and such things. So it actually looks at levelling the differences between illegal and legal things. We don't want that — actually many countries in the Council of Europe that have not signed the Compact. It doesn't belong in here.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:23:41
Thank you.
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ.
The United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and on refugees is relevant to this context, especially relevant. Omitting it would render this paragraph's meaning, so I strongly urge not accept the amendment and to keep it in the text.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:24:05
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:24:09
Thank you.
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
We'll move on to amendment number 24. If it passes, amendment number 4 falls.
Mr KLEINWAECHTER, you have the floor.
Thank you.
Paragraph 4.8 calls to implement more efficient relocation, and it's not in the interest of many countries and peoples here in the Council of Europe to have a relocation of migrants on a large scale. So therefore this paragraph should be removed from the report.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:24:57
Thank you. Mr SCHENNACH against the amendment?
What we need in Europe is solidarity, and that means that all countries have to stay together in solidarity: to help Greece, to help Malta, to help Spain and to help Italy. So and, there was the council of the minister of interior in Malta for a short time. This is what we have to do: we have to stay together and help each other.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:25:26
Thank you.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:25:31
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment 24 is rejected. We'll go to amendment number 4.
Mr MANIERO.
Thank you, Madam President.
The Council of Europe and the European Union share the same fundamental values, which are at the heart of the Council of Europe's action. Among these we find first of all solidarity.
We therefore consider it important to state that the division of responsibilities must take place on the basis of reliable and effective solidarity.
Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:26:21
Thank you.
Does anyone wish to speak against Amendment 4?
This is not the case.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Accepted by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:26:32
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 4 is adopted.
Amendment number 11 and oral sub-amendment
To introduce Amendment number 11, I give the floor to Madam DE CARLO.
Thank you, President.
This passage was already contained in the original draft of the document. We know that a document was produced on 23 September, which is called Predictive Temporary Allocation Programme, which was adopted in Luxembourg a few days ago, so I think it is important to include this amendment to update the document.
Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:27:29
The Chair has received from the Committee an oral sub-amendment which I read: in paragraph 2 of Amendment 11, after the word "France", insert the words "from Finland". I consider this sub-amendment to be admissible under the criteria of the Rules of Procedure. As you know, it can not be taken into account if at least ten representatives stand up to oppose it.
Are there any objections to taking this oral sub-amendment into account?
This is not the case, so we will examine it.
I call the rapporteur to support the oral sub-amendment.
Yes, definitely, I'm in favour because as the honourable colleague said before me, it was already in the text. The old wording was different. This is a more precise wording and we need to laud all efforts that aim at reaching an agreement and responsibility sharing in Europe. So definitely in favour.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:28:29
Thank you. Does anyone wish to speak against the oral sub-amendment?
This is not the case. What is the opinion of the author of the amendment on the oral sub-amendment?
Ms DE CARLO.
All right.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:28:43
In favour. The Committee is naturally in favor.
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The oral sub-amendment was adopted. We come back to the amendment. Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment, subamended?
This is not the case.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Accepted by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:29:19
We go to the vote. The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 11 is adopted.
Amendment number 5. Amendment number 5 is the subject of a sub-amendment by the Committee. I call on Mr MANIERO to support Amendment number 5.
Thank you, Madam President.
While recognising the important role that NGOs have played in saving lives and in preparing the way forward for this work, we must call for compliance with international and national standards. This place is the cradle from which to defend human rights, democracy and the primacy of law. If rule of law still has any meaning and importance, we cannot avoid referring to the right to organise these operations.
Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:30:23
Thank you.
I consider this sub-amendment to be in order.
I received a sub-amendment from the Committee, which reads as follows: "in amendment 5, delete the words 'national deregulation'" and I consider this sub-amendment to be admissible in the light of the criteria of the regulation.
As you know, it can not be taken into account if at least 10 representatives stand up to oppose it.
Are there any objections to taking this oral sub-amendment into account? Such is not the case. So wait.
So the objections are in sufficient numbers, so we will not consider it, so we will deal with the amendment.
Does anyone wish to speak against Amendment number 5? Please, the Rapporteur.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
I must be against because there are too many national regulatory frameworks in the countries around the Mediterranean. Too many, and we don't know what they are. Maybe not all the captains know what they are. If we go by international law, that's something everyone knows, that's a universal thing. So I believe that international law is much better. Unfortunately, we can't debate this sub-amendment so I would be against this amendment.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:31:54
Thank you, the opinion of the Committee ?
So the Committee ruled on the clause as amended and accepted it, but in the Committee mind, it was a refusal now.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:32:05
Thank you.
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 5 is rejected.
Amendment number 25: Mr KLEINWAECHTER, you have the floor.
Thank you very much. We want to add paragraph 4.11, which is that the NGOs, if they help, should do so in cooperation with the coast guards of the coastal country. What is not acceptable, for example, the previously cited case of Carola Rackete, who illegally docked her ship, rammed a customs boat, and violated national law. This is not acceptable and that is not a humanitarian aid. The people in control of ships should not break any laws.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:32:59
Thank you, Mr SCHENNACH opposes the amendment.
I'm against, because we have to respect and be thankful for what the NGOs did in the last month and the last half year. If there were no NGOs, more, thousands, of people would have died, so we have to respect and don't accept this amendment please.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:33:22
Thank you.
The opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:33:27
We go to the vote. The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
Amendment number 26, Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Thank you, Ms President.
The amendment is to cut off after the passage in the nearest port of safety as provided for by International Maritime Law. And that's exactly the point, there are the Amnesty guidelines for rescue at sea that regulate very clearly when someone is in safety and when he's not in safety, and what to do with refugees.
It's especially in article 6.14, I invite you to read this document, which is already international law, so we don't need the text following this passage and it should be deleted.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:34:21
Thank you. Someone opposes the amendment?
Mr Rapporteur?
Well, I must be against it because the mentioned aspects are required both under international law and EU law, so I don't see any harm in them being left in the report. So I urge you not to accept this amendment.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:34:40
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:34:44
We go to the vote. The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment 26 is rejected.
Amendment number 6. I give the floor to Ms DE CARLO to support it.
Thank you, Madam President.
We consider it very important to include this passage in the text because it refers exactly to the document we were talking about earlier, the one prepared during the meeting in Malta, which establishes the voluntary rotation of the landing ports and the redistribution of migrants on a mandatory basis , with a quota system that will be set according to the number of countries participating in the agreement.
Thanks.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:35:34
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Mr Rapporteur.
I have to be against it because the international law requires disembarkation in the closest safe port. It makes no sense to ship migrants to ports which are far away. So, for example if someone is rescued off the coast of Malta, they can be disembarked in Dublin or Riga or Talinn or Stockholm. It doesn't make any sense. After they are rescued, after this disembarkation has been completed, relocation can be pursued under other agreements.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:36:07
Thank you, what is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:36:10
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The amendment is rejected.
Amendment number 27. If adopted, Amendment number 15 will fall.
Thank you, Ms President.
We want to delete paragraph 4.13 which asks for resettlement programmes. In our view, the best way to end the dying in the Mediterranean Sea is actually by treating everyone the same way, no matter what vessel he takes. People who come by plane or by regular ferry, they are refused because, well, they're not really refugees. But if they come on an illegal vessel, they are received. And that is actually the mistake we have to correct — its nowhere in the report — but the approach to just make resettlement programmes will just lead in the opposite direction.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:37:08
Thank you.
I call Mr SCHENNACH against the amendment.
Sorry this is a very cynical interpretation.
What we said before, what we had in the debate, what we need is European solidarity. What we need is a relocation programme inside the European Union. That is what we have to offer. It's totally not necessary to think whether people are coming with an NGO or on an official vessel, the important thing is to welcome, as the rapporteur said, in the next safe harbour.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:37:46
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:37:50
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment 27 is rejected.
Amendment number 15. I call Mr SIRAKAYA to introduce it.
Thank you Madam Chair.
The reason why me and my colleagues offered this amendment is that the EU should be called on to activate a voluntary humanitarian admission scheme, which would contribute to the resettlement. Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:38:41
Thank you,
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Mr rapporteur.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Although I understand your concern, I have to be against because this paragraph already includes the term "humanitarian visa" and I think it's covered by that. And the Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme relates to land missions and not to sea ones, so I don't see the relevance for the report.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:39:05
Thank you.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:39:09
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 15 is rejected.
Amendments 7 and 28 are identical. Amendment number 7 having been tabled first, I give the floor to Ms DE CARLO.
Thank you, Madam President.
We are facing an urgent debate in order to save human lives, but here we are discussing inserting a passage that is intended to remove a tool that saves lives.
We are all aware of the scandals on the subject of patrol boats. The aim should in fact be to instruct Libyan personnel to ensure that migrants brought back by the Coast Guard are taken in by those who guarantee their safety. So a tool that saves lives should not be eliminated.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:40:17
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
The rapporteur?
Thank you, Madame.
I am against the amendment because Amendment 2 is acceptable. That would change the paragraph to reflect more what was intended by this paragraph.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:40:33
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Rejected by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:40:36
We will vote on amendments No. 7 and 28.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
The amendments are rejected.
We now move on to amendment No. 2.
Ms Petra BAYR has the floor.
Ms Petra BAYR to present the amendment? Amendment No. 2.
Who wants to present the amendment? The rapporteur?
I'm in favour of this amendment because the formulation reflects better what was intended with this paragraph. So I urge the honourable members to support it.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:41:32
Thank you.
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Yes.
I call Mr MANIERO.
Thank you, Madam President.
I appreciate the spirit with which this amendment has been proposed but, if we read it, we see that we would not be able to have any kind of cooperation with Libya until certifying complete respect for every form of human right. This is unrealistic and therefore would box us into a situation of lack of cooperation that would increase deaths, not reduce them. This same document begins by saying that deaths have decreased, along with crossings in the Mediterranean and we are talking about increasing them here.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:42:16
What is the opinion of the Committee?
Favorable, by a large majority.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:42:21
Thank you.
We will now proceed to vote on Amendment number 2.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 2 is adopted.
The adoption of Amendment number 2 brings down Amendments numbers 8, 9 and 10.
So we come to amendment number 16.
It is Mr SIRAKAYA who will defend it.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
In this amendment, we offer that the Assembly should reiterate its calls for more responsibility in sharing and addressing the migration crisis.
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:43:19
Thank you.
Does anyone wish to oppose the amendment?
The rapporteur?
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Although I again, I understand the intention, however, responsibility sharing has already been stressed on several points, and I'm not really clear what was meant by "contributions to responsibility sharing". This word "contribution" can have multiple meanings so I'm against it.
I think that the text is fine as it is.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:43:46
Thank you.
What is the opinion of the Committee?
The Committee is against.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:43:50
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 16 is rejected.
Amendment number 30. Mr KLEINWAECHTER.
Thank you. The suggestion is to replace the word "asylum seekers" with the word "migrants". And it makes sense especially in the sentence "for reception and integration of refugees and asylum seekers" as it's written right now. But, actually, refugees should be asylum seekers because, well, it's almost the same thing. So, actually, we should talk about refugees and migrants in this case, and I would urge you to ask to adopt this amendment and to reject the resolution.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:44:39
Thank you.
Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment?
Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ?
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Since this is the last amendment, I forgot to thank the Secretariat for putting up with me during these few days. We really had some really hard work.
I'm against this amendment because there is a current positive debate among member states about sharing the responsibilities for reception and integration of refugees and asylum seekers, so I feel that if we left the asylum seekers for migrants, that would be incorrect and imprecise.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:45:11
What is the opinion of the Committee?
The Committee is against.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
11:45:14
We go to the vote.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
Amendment number 30 is rejected.
We will now proceed to vote on the draft resolution.
The poll is open.
The ballot is closed.
The resolution contained in Document 14971 as amended, was adopted 100 votes to 19 and 15 abstentions.
As announced, we now move to the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
I ask the group leaders to join the seats allocated to them in the hemicycle.
Ladies and gentlemen,
On Tuesday we held the official ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe. It was a particularly moving moment for all of us: we can and must be proud of what we have accomplished during these 70 years. And we want to celebrate this anniversary also in this place. On the basis of this knowledge and experience, we are determined to respond as effectively as possible to the new challenges that Human Rights, democracy and the Rule of Law face on our continent.
What strengthens us in this conviction? This is undoubtedly the uniqueness of our Organization, in particular, its institutional architecture.
We have, on the one hand, a Committee of Ministers, representing the governments of our Member States and, on the other hand, a Parliamentary Assembly which brings together democratically elected parliamentarians and thus reflects diversity and pluralist composition of our societies.
This structure is unheard of among multilateral organizations. The other international parliamentary assemblies have a different role and –above all– functions different from those of ours, which are defined both by the Statute of the Council of Europe and by our conventions, in particular by the European Convention on Human Rights.
It is thanks to this unique institutional balance that governments and parliaments have a shared responsibility to preserve Europe's democratic principles and the fundamental rights and freedoms of all.
I wish today, during this ceremony, to emphasize the role that the Assembly has played in the construction of Europe because, as a place for debate, meetings and openness, our Assembly has greatly influenced the genesis of the European project, allowing it to develop and flourish.
For that, I propose to go back in time and to travel together in the history of our Organization, through statements and speeches of the men and women who carried the European project, knowing that many of these visionary declarations were pronounced in this same hemicycle.
[Audio recording: Victor Hugo]
"A day will come when you, France; you, Russia; you, Italy; you, England; you, Germany; you, all the nations of the continent, without losing your distinct qualities and your glorious individuality, you will merge into a higher unity and you will constitute the European fraternity ".
A century after Victor Hugo formulated these reflections, Sir Winston Churchill will present in Zurich in 1946 his vision of the reunification of the European continent: the United States of Europe. He will then call for the formation of a Council of Europe.
[Video screening: Winston Launch Churchill]
"We need to build something like the United States of Europe. (...) In view of this imperious task, France and Germany must reconcile; Great Britain, the Commonwealth of British Nations, the mighty America, and, I hope, Soviet Russia - because everything would be solved - must be the friends and protectors of the new Europe and defend its right to life. and prosperity. And it is in this spirit that I say to you: forward, Europe! "
On May 5, 1949, the Treaty of London, signed by ten founding countries, ratified the creation of the Council of Europe with, in point of view, the achievement of a closer union between its members.
For Winston Churchill, one of the main reasons for founding the Assembly was to associate a free and democratic Germany with Western democracies. It will be done in 1950. Very soon, the other democracies will join our Organization. In 1977, Spain will become the 20th member, completing the Western table.
[Video screening: King of Spain]
"In saluting this House, I can not forget the decisive role it played in the accession of Spain, a role which, in a certain way, led it to deviate from its uses to value its faith and hope in the process of transition to democracy in Spain ".
But the Iron Curtain will continue to separate long "millions of homes whose hearts are with us", as evoked by Winston Churchill right here in 1949. Forty years later, the first milestones will finally be planted to allow the Council to Europe –with the help of our Assembly– to achieve what was its vocation: to bring together all the parliamentary democracies of the Old Continent.
[Video screening: Catherine LALUMIÈRE]
"We will try, together, to live up to the democratic ideal of those who gave birth to the Council of Europe... We will also try to reach out, to help all those who ask us to assert with force the superiority of right and freedom and call us to open the door for them, I was going to say, to open their arms."
[Video screening: Mikhail Gorbachev]
"During meetings recently held with European leaders, the architecture of the common house and the techniques of its construction and even its furnishings were discussed. The talks on this subject in Moscow and Paris, with President François Mitterrand, have been fruitful. (...). Nevertheless, even today, I do not pretend to have in my pocket a project ready for this house. "
The Council of Europe and its Assembly take note of the fact that European reunification is no longer a utopia. Events are rushing towards the end of 1989, and Europeans from Eastern and Western Europe are finally seeing the "unity of the continent", to which everyone has aspired. The founding dream can finally be realized.
[Video screening: François Mitterrand]
"On the 40th anniversary of your Organization, you had just welcomed a 23rd state, Finland. Democratic Europe was reborn. She seemed then complete, and yet our joy could not be complete, for there was the other Europe. I remember having expressed our refusal to resign ourselves to this fracture. "
[Video screening: Helmut Kohl]
"What is important to me is that in the twenty-first century we can live together in peace and freedom and leave the barbarity behind us forever. (...) To maintain peace, we must make the path to a united Europe irreversible. (...) Our European house must be able to withstand bad weather and be covered by a solid roof; it will have to allow all the peoples of Europe to lodge at their convenience. "
[Video screening: Václav Havel]
"Without dreaming of a better Europe, we will never build a better Europe. I do not see the twelve stars of your emblem as the expression of the proud conviction that the Council of Europe will build heaven on earth. There will never be paradise on earth. For me, these twelve stars mean that we could live better on earth if we dared, from time to time, to look up at the stars. "
My dear colleagues,
Dear friends, dear friends,
We have just re-lived some of the highlights of our Organization's history.
During the past 70 years, our Assembly has always been the driving force behind the process of European unification, the construction of our common home.
Today, its role is all the more important in this process, as a forum for dialogue and political debate at the level of Greater Europe, as emphasized yesterday the President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel MACRON. I would like, in this context, to thank you all for your commitment to our Assembly: Europe needs your energy, your enthusiasm and your competence to meet the challenges that human rights are facing in Europe. I would also like to express our gratitude to the staff of the Council of Europe and more particularly to the staff of the secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly. Their expertise, commitment and loyalty to the service of our Organization and our values are absolutely essential to the continuation of our activities.
Dear friends, dear friends,
We are proud today of our common home, yet we all know that, despite solid foundations, it is today weakened by the erosion of values that are our foundations. A wave of division is blowing again on the continent, weakening mutual trust between the member states. Solidarity and cooperation give way to withdrawal and fear of others. The specter of nationalist ideology comes back to haunt and contaminate the minds. Pluralism and dialogue in society increasingly come up against authoritarian tendencies.
How to resist these trends?
Let us always remember our common history and the exploits we have accomplished: despite the hardships that have marked the years, we have continually overcome them.
Seventy years ago, after two devastating world wars, the peoples of Europe rose to the challenge of rebuilding peace.
Faced with a deep crisis of values, these women and men, with their courage and determination, found the moral compass to guide their action: Human rights, freedom and democracy, justice and Rule of law.
Today, we must live up to their courage and vision.
Today, as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe, we have the opportunity to give a new political impetus to our Organization in order to continue to defend together the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Europeans who live in our common home. I am convinced that our Assembly has all the assets to meet this challenge and I count on each and every one of you to work in this direction.
Thank you.
And I now give the floor to Mrs Marija PEJČINOVIĆ-BURIĆ, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Council of Europe Secretary General
12:01:18
Merci, Madame la Président,
Dear friends,
After 70 years, the Council of Europe is our continent’s leading human rights organisation. We have a common legal space in which common standards are agreed and applied. And this greater unity, this unprecedented degree of co-operation, has created a place for lasting peace.
The European Convention and the European Social Charter are the reference point from which the rights of Europeans emanate. These are the basis of our wide range of legal instruments that defend and promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
On our 70th anniversary, we are right to reflect on the way in which all of this has transformed the lives of people who live throughout our 47 member states. But we should also see our achievements as a signpost for the work that we must do.
May’s Ministerial Session in Helsinki made clear its determination to move forward, finding new solutions to emerging issues on the basis of our shared values.
Artificial intelligence, human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, and the more effective application of social rights: all of these require new thinking and work that has already begun.
Council of Europe Secretary General
12:03:04
Dear friends,
Our organisation owes its success to the dedication of those who work within it and who participate in the work of its organs and institutions.
This goes for the extraordinary, talented and professional staff at its service. This also applies to parliamentarians who have also made this deliberate choice to become part of the Council of Europe's mission.
The contribution of this parliamentary assembly will remain decisive for our future achievements. I'm not talking just about the debates you hold, the reports you write, and the checks and balances you conduct, no matter how important they are. I also want to talk about your ability to support and carry out the development of new instruments, as these are key to our success.
This organisation gave rise to the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and a few years earlier the initial proposal for a collective complaints procedure for the European Social Charter.
These texts and many others testify to your commitment and your ability.
Dear friends, when the Council of Europe was set up, one of the questions was whether this organisation should be intergovernmental or interparliamentary. The answer was to agree that it should be both at the same time, as indicated in our statute. This decision was the right one.
The cause of human rights, democracy and the rule of law is a cause that should be a source of unity and not of divisions. By building bridges between governments and parliamentarians, we are getting much better results.
Our unity has been our strength over the past 70 years.
This must remain the case as we prepare for the challenges ahead.
Thank you very much
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:06:18
I call Mr Aleksander POCIEJ, Chairman of the Group of the European People's Party.
Poland, EPP/CD, Chairperson of the group
12:06:31
Madam President,
Madam Secretary General,
When you throw a stone into the mountain, you can not predict whether it will sink noiselessly into the snow or if, by disturbing the silence and the fragile immobility of the sleeping forces, it will be the beginning of an avalanche.
The London Act of May 1949, using the words of Jacques Chirac, was a beginning of a new history in Europe.
Poland, EPP/CD, Chairperson of the group
12:07:16
Seventy years ago, in a destroyed-by-a-terrible war Europe, the great minds built a new order based on peace, democracy, and liberal economies. From today's perspective, the project implemented by 47 countries in Europe can be assessed as an avalanche of success. High standards of human rights pushed by the Council from the beginning have become a model for subsequent countries joining it.
In the 90s, for all countries that were suffering under the occupation of the Soviet Union, after years of trampling morals, human rights, and democracy, the system of values — based on ideas of enlightenment and the Christian values — was a compass of conduct, a recipe for democracy and the rule of law. At the time of its inception, the death penalty applied in most Council of Europe member states.
In this regard, the impossible has been accomplished. Forcing the abolition of the death penalty through nearly the entire Europe is of historical merit and a reason to be proud of the Council. The European Court of Human Rights directly affects the legislation of individual European countries, leading to the harmonisation of values. Monitoring democracy in the member countries is a great merit of our parliamentarians.
The merit of the Venice Commission cannot be overestimated, which I myself as a Polish citizen and parliamentarian, unfortunately, can testify to. The Jubilee is always a reason to celebrate, but this 70th anniversary was associated with a serious financial crisis that posed a threat to the functioning of the Council and its institutions. The absence of the majority of the Eastern delegation here today is proof of a deep fracture in the Assembly.
We must strongly work to change it. We expect the new Secretary General not only to protect human rights and democratic order but also to rebuild the unity of the assembly and create the new Council of Europe structure that will not allow this venerable institution to be under financial threat anymore.
Thank you very much.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:10:16
The next speaker is Frank SCHWABE, Chairman of the Group of Democratic and Green Socialists.
Madam President,
Secretary-General,
Dear judges,
Human rights defenders,
Staff of this great organisation,
Dear Colleagues.
"It happened, therefore it can happen again." This is a quote from Primo Levi, an Italian writer and survivor of the Holocaust. "It happened, therefore it can happen again." That was the motivation for a project of school pupils in my constituency, Waltrop. The title of the project was "Alertness Project." When I sat there and was introduced to the project, I realised once again why this organisation really exists; why it was founded 70 years ago.
It was the result of two world wars and the German Holocaust. It was to say never again: we never want to experience such a thing again, we want to place human dignity at the centre of European politics. There were many phases in the 70 years of this organisation. Today is the day of German unity, for example, one of the phases. We have this morning seen some of the earlier phases that made up these 70 years. But we are probably entering a new, second phase, for this organisation, because in the last 60 or 70 years almost all countries have become members of the Council of Europe in order to achieve more democracy, more human rights and further develop their rule of law with the support of the Council of Europe. But unfortunately we have seen a counter-tendency in recent years. A growing number member states that are questioning the Council of Europe, and that challenges us to provide new answers and to work all the more persistently.
We are in the process of developing a new mechanism for how we deal with states that do not abide by the rules and violate fundamental values of democracy. We have to tackle the issue of corruption. We have got started on this, but we are not finished yet. We have to organise our finances, as has just been mentioned, so that we also finance this organisation correctly. Zero Nominal Growth when it comes to human rights can not exist. We have to make this loud and clear to our national governments.
Dear colleagues,
It is an absolute privilege to be a member of this Parliamentary Assembly. Through this and all other institutions of this organisation, we have the mission to protect 820 million people, no matter what their nationality. Everyone is deemed to equal in the European Convention on Human Rights. And I encourage us to resist the temptation to reflect what our national governments are discussing. We have a series of forums for debate: there is the Committee of Ministers, where national governments can discuss. The European Convention on Human Rights does not distinguish between French and Germans, between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, between Ukrainians and Russians, but it is all the same before this European Convention on Human Rights.
Finally, I want to thank the judges for their fantastic work. The court is at the heart of this organisation and it is our holy grail. We must do out utmost to defend this institution. I want to thank the courageous human rights defenders who are often here in the corridors and whom we do not value, I believe. They run many risks, including to their own life, freedom and their own integrity for human rights. We must do everything possible to protect these people.
I would like to thank, like the President, the staff and officials of this great organisation; without them, we would all be nothing.
If you want to get a picture of this and have not yet done so, you should just go up to the sixth floor. You'll see the posters, the stickers and the pictures that highlight the commitment and empathy of the staff and their great competence.
I would like to close with Primo Levi, with whom I also started. I think his words depict an excellent picture of the future of our organisation. Primo Levi also said: "The aims of life are the best defence against death." What better metaphor could be used on the Council of Europe's 70th Birthday.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:15:05
The next speaker is Mr Hendrik DAEMS, President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe .
You know, this morning I had a nice speech.
But, Madam President, Madam Secretary General, I began to think about what the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is in fact.
There are three keywords in there. There is a word that is "assembly": it means to be together, all together, doing something together. There is also the word "parliament". There, it's easy in French, the word "parler" means "to speak", "dialogue".
On the other hand, when I put it in English, it becomes quite another thing: when we had parties that were in conflict, in English, we said "let's parley", which means "solve a conflict".
So parliament is not just about talking, it's not just about dialogue, it's about solving the problems of the Assembly, all together.
But there is more. I also started to think about Europe. What is Europe? We could go back into history and say where does the word come from? But basically it comes from Arabic, I don't know if you know that. It's an Assyrian word, which basically means that's the place where the sun goes down. We translated that into the West. Now that depends on where you stand, because if you're standing in the Philippines, Strasbourg is not exactly the West, I mean you have to pass by many countries, which is why, I dare to say that, we should leave a bit this concept of West. By the way, if you go from Porto to Vladivostok how can you say about western or eastern, only talk about the West, you cannot.
And so I was started to think about is there something like European identity? What a difficult and dangerous word, "identity". I think there is. I think there is something like European identity, only, it is basically defined by unity in diversity. So it's not normative, it's not that I have an identity that you have to follow. No, it's unity in diversity. And when I come back to what Churchill said, united states of Europe, I got to thinking that states have borders, but values do not have borders. And so basically when we're talking about Europe, we're not talking about countries, we are talking about values, that is what we are talking about. We talk about dignity. Basically, we're talking about equality. We're talking about liberty, dignité, égalité, liberté. That is what we are talking about and that is something that we all, in this house, should be defending, should value, should basically uphold, all of us.
This is why Madam President, Madam Secretary General, all colleagues, I've got this thinking that basically the Council of Europe, it's not some kind of the united states of Europe. It is not. That might be the European Union, something else, my feeling, it's not the Council of Europe, my feeling is that this house, this temple of democracy, basically is the Council of the Europeans; because again, states have borders, values do not. And so when someone would ask me outside or inside, who are you? What are you? I would tend to answer, well, "I'm a European". And my wish for the future will be when any one of you would get the same question, I would really hope that you would answer, "me too, I'm a European, I also am a European".
Thank you.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:18:41
The next speaker is Mr Ian LIDDELL-GRAINGER, Chairman of the European Conservatives Group .
United Kingdom, Chairperson of the EC
12:18:50
Well colleagues, thank you very much indeed.
It was quite surreal, just when you were speaking, Madame President, to see Sir Winston CHURCHILL, standing then, and you paraphrased what he said, because he did speak rather long-windedly. And, basically what he said is, after a generation of terrible wars, we had a chance to set ourselves above that, and to bring Europe, which had been at war for a thousand years, together.
And that's what this place is about. This is — you've already heard from three of my co-presidents, and you will hear from Tiny after me — we should be proud of what the people before us did, from all countries of Europe, because they had an aspiration, because most of them had suffered terribly in two world wars. They understood what was necessary to bring Europe together. And that challenge is now the challenge that we face as a generation that has never known a war — not of that scale.
Yet, here we are in 2019, where we have countries boycotting the Council of Europe. We have countries who are not paying the money they should to the Council of Europe. We have uncertainty — as Rick put very eloquently — across Europe, as to what the role of Europe and where we are going in Europe.
I stand before you as a Brit; we have one or two local difficulties over Europe. And that is our problem. We were here to unite, to democracy, human rights, culture. So much of what we believe in. I'm fairly new to the Council of Europe — and my colleague Tiny here has been here twice as long as I have — but understands the ramifications of where we are heading in the future.
No organisation, no matter how good or bad it is, has a right to exist anymore. We were superseded in many ways by the UN and other organisations. We do have brilliant abilities here. The European Development Bank — a lot of you may be sitting in here going, "What on earth is he talking about?" — it has €25 billion on the funds. It does an enormous amount of good work. A huge amount of good work. And it is a, probably, a shining example of European integration as to what we can do with money that we get from our government, channelled in a different way.
But, yet again, — I will say to you this — if you look at the way we operate, as an organisation, we haven't greatly changed since the 1950s. Our predecessors, in that time, would recognise a lot of the stuff we do. And the questions I would ask to you, Madame Secretary General and you Madame President, is this: we need to modernise, we need to look to the future, we need to compete — not physically, obviously — with other organisations.
I've just come back from Uganda where I was at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference with 58 countries. We spent our time talking about how can we better, where do we put our money? Britain alone gives nearly £13 billion in overseas aid. Many other countries do the same, and they're phenomenally generous.
Now, why are we not tapping into that? And I would ask you — and I will leave you this — do we do too many reports that nobody reads? Are our reports intellectually rigorous enough to stand what is now the international norm? Are we too much of our time looking at our tummy buttons and talking to ourselves?
The 70th anniversary, and Monsieur MACRON stood in this place a couple of days ago, was not reported across Europe, as far as I can make out. In France, they're very pleased — so I was told — that there was a 70th anniversary. Unfortunately, it was China, not us. So, therefore, our challenge is the challenge of taking us forward to be — dare I say it — relevant in the 21st century and that is up to all of us.
Our failure is countries boycotting. Our failure is money not being paid. Our failure is not being listened to by the countries of Europe and that is the challenge we will face over the next generation. It won't be us that has to finally, probably, make that decision. But it should be us that leads the charge for the future of the Council of Europe, because if we don't, in 70 years' time I worry where we will be.
But I have faith, I have conviction and I have an ability to think that yes, together, as parliamentarians, as people who make this place what it is, that we together will lead us to a place we've got to get to. And I say that because a lot of citizens of Europe will depend on us. We fail, we fail them. We succeed, they will have our protection and they should always have our protection. We are parliamentarians, we understand elections, we understand people and we should use that as the basis of our future.
Thank you very much indeed.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:24:22
The next speaker is Mr Tiny KOX, Chairman of the Group of the European United Left.
Madam President, Madam Secretary General, ambassadors, dear colleagues.
It is inspiring for me to see how we are here together in this hemicycle, where we are allowed because our governments and our parliaments signed and ratified, at a certain moment, the Statute of the Council of Europe and European Convention of Human Rights.
To be here is not for free. It comes with obligations. According to the Statute, the goal of the Council of Europe is to bring greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising our ideas and principles. Principles of the rule of law, and of the enjoyment by all persons of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as to ensure economic and social progress in all our member states. That is written in our Statute. Membership obliges all member states to contribute to this greater European Union, says the Statute.
The fundamental rights and freedoms of which the Statute speaks have been formulated in the European Convention of Human Rights, and are under the oversight of our European Court of Human Rights, which we have granted the right to make binding verdicts in cases brought before the Court. By citizens from Vladivostok to Reykjavik, from the North Pole to the Mediterranean, this Council of Europe is a unique construction.
Madame President, Madame Secretary General, we politicians, we are able to understand the uniqueness of this Council of Europe and the challenging promise it is to all our citizens to have a better and a safer life. But we as politicians are also aware that it's far more easy to promise than to deliver. In spite of the commitment to greater unity in Europe, to the benefit of our citizens, we often see greater divide, to the detriment of our citizens. In spite of the binding obligations for all member states to respect the fundamental freedoms and rights of our citizens, we far too often see these rights violated and these freedoms taken away from our citizens by all member states. We have to be fair. We politicians too often fail to deliver on the promises that we made to our citizens. We should feel responsible for that.
Madame President, Madame Secretary General, if we want seven years after the birth of this Council of Europe to still work on greater unity between our 47 member states, we have to accelerate our efforts to become more effective and more inspiring, as the colleagues already said.
We have a great acquis of over 200 conventions. Many instruments and organs, and a possibility to develop new conventions, to make existing conventions better, and make new agreements and instruments. We are not empty-handed in the Council of Europe. By adopting last April a resolution and a recommendation on the main challenges for the future, we gave ourselves as an Assembly, a clear but demanding roadmap for the coming years. That now, while celebrating our 70th anniversary, obliges us once again to act in line with these decisions we took and work even harder for the greater European unity in the future in order to promote and protect the rule of the law and the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens.
Our Council of Europe has a great past. I had the chance during the past six years to study it. And I have seen, in how many member states, the Council of Europe, its efforts, its conventions, it has really helped to make life better for our citizens. It is not often in the newspapers. But, if the only goal is to be in the newspapers, we should become something other than politicians. The goal is to do what we promised to our citizens. And the Council of Europe has delivered, has delivered quite a lot.
I think Madame President, Madame Secretary General, we can be proud that we have a great past. It is now time to take care and to work all together to have a great future. We can if we want. I am honoured to be a member of this Assembly. I am honoured to have the possibility, so many times in the year, to talk with all of you, whatever different opinions we have. And I hope that in the future, Madame President, Madam Secretary General, we will move away from considering this hemicycle as a battleground for geopolitical struggle. And to make it evermore an innovative factory where good ideas to the benefit of our 830 million citizens can develop into working instruments. Once again, we can if we want.
Thank you very much.
Switzerland, SOC, President of the Assembly
12:30:04
My dear colleagues,
Dear friends,
We are coming to the end of our ceremony.
I would like to thank the Presidents of the political groups, and all of you who have joined us in this Chamber, for your presence and your participation, which testify to your commitment to the Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe.
This commitment is particularly important after the crisis that our Assembly and the Council of Europe have gone through. I said it at the opening of our part-session: I am deeply convinced that, if we have succeeded in overcoming these difficulties, it is thanks to our desire for dialogue, to our deep commitment to our political mission. That is, to guarantee and protect the rights and freedoms of all our peoples, our fellow citizens. This political mission unites us and gives meaning to our common work. Dialogue allows us to better understand each other, to mitigate our differences, and to find a common agenda to move forward together.
As President of this Assembly, I will spare no effort to continue to facilitate this process, and I count on the support of each and every one of you.
I thank you for your attention, and I now suggest that we rise and listen to the European anthem, in order to conclude this ceremony.
