Barrot at plenary

We have our plenary session today and tomorrow. This afternoon Jacques Barrot came to participate in a debate about European asylum and immigration policy. As Barrot pointed out, this is literally a life-and-death matter for many people, and this understanding coloured the debate.  The logical answer in this field, as the draftsmen and women of the Lisbon Treaty understood, is more ‘Europe’  and this is one area where the new Treaty would make a clear difference, since it would bring virtually all Justice and Home Affair matters under the so-called ‘Community method’. For me, a very touching moment came in the debate when it was pointed out that Georgios Dassis, now a Committee member and President of the Employees’ Group, had once been a refugee and, indeed, had been granted political asylum. He truly knew what he was talking about in the debate!