Tim Aker (EFDD). – Mr President, the widely accepted definition of a state is a political entity having monopoly control over a set border and the territory within. This report on EU visas is another example where the EU desperately tries to pass itself off as a state. It does it when it legislates on fishing. With the passage of the Lisbon Treaty, it has done it on international affairs, and now it does it on border policy. A simple trading bloc it is not. Where it says ‘harmonisation’, it really means ‘centralisation’, one—size—fits—all and, sadly, there is no more subsidiarity.

The EU’s track record on border mismanagement should give Member States pause for thought. What is given to the EU is seldom given back, and we in the UK are finding that out. Visa requirements should be a competence of Member States, not the European Union. This report politicises visas and attempts to bribe or threaten selected third countries to take back illegal immigrants, or their own citizens will face higher fees as a result. These, we might add, are people the EU called to Europe at the beginning of the so—called refugee crisis and the waves of illegal immigration coming to Europe’s shores. The EU is trying to dig its way out of the hole it dug itself. Well, keep on digging. You’ll see where it gets you.