Europe needs a genuine immigration and asylum policy
Press release from EFA MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras
Catalan MEP and President of the EFA Group in the European Parliament, Josep-Maria Terricabras has called for a 'genuine immigration and asylum policy for Europe' in response to the tragedies experienced by migrants in the Mediterranean.
MEPs in Strasbourg were today debating the issue with the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. They were highly critical of Europe's inadequate response so far, and called for a more united approach.
Speaking in the debate, Josep-Maria Terricabras, who is also Vice President of the Greens/EFA group said:
"In this debate the main thing that I would like to highlight is that the money and the means set aside by Council recently are based on good intentions and may save some lives but let's not forget that here in the European Union we don't really have a genuine immigration and asylum policy.
"It's not that we have a bad policy, what we have is a non-existent policy – that is the serious problem: we don't have a common migration and asylum policy.
"So aid is being provided but behind that there is powerlessness and there are immigrants who are risking their lives, who are leaving their countries of origin and unfortunately the problem is not being resolved, and in a way the measures proposed will just postpone the problem.
"What we need is a strategy for the Mediterranean, we need to help the countries of origin, we need to have a common policy to welcome these refugees and provide asylum.
"If we fail to do that then thousands of people will lose their lives in the Mediterranean. We can't allow that to happen – we have a duty and moral obligation to act."
