22
Jan
2025
Watch
Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 December 2024 (debate)
Madam President, Mr Costa, what does it sound like to you if I tell you that, during 2024, about 30 people a day have lost their lives trying to reach the Canary Islands? More than 10,000 people have died trying to reach Europe's southern border. That's an unacceptable figure, isn't it? And it is tremendously painful, but it is not an accident, a natural catastrophe or something inevitable. It is a direct consequence of cruel border control policies that are making routes increasingly dangerous. Policies that, supposedly, are aimed at orderly and regular migration. This is a euphemism - and you know it all too well - because without legal and safe pathways there is no regular migration that is worth it. We know that. Let's not deceive the population, the voters. We don't want legal and safe pathways. They don't want them and that's why they have to risk their lives. Meanwhile, in December, the Council, Mr Costa, removed the humanitarian clause, which is very worrying, because with this we are criminalising rescue NGOs, which are only trying to save lives. And, in parallel, the Commission has begun to dismantle the right to asylum, turning itself over to far-right policies under the guise of hybrid threats. This Parliament cannot be complicit. Human rights are sinking like the Titanic and we're going to stay like the orchestra, playing under the music of the far right. Don't count on me.