Claude Moraes (S&D). - Mr President, I represented asylum seekers before I was elected to this House. We were talking about the common asylum system back then, so when we hear today concerns about, for example, the marginal progress made on the Reception Conditions Directive; difficulties in the Eurodac file, which I was shadowing; law enforcement access; and so on, then of course there are real concerns about where we can make progress. But let us put one thing into perspective, which is that the Council has for many years talked about burden sharing. They have talked about a common asylum system for well over fifteen years, Commissioner, not just fifteen years. But the gap between that rhetoric and actually creating that system has been enormous. Therefore, the vote tomorrow – which I am glad is now going to get more widespread political support in this House – is very important.

None of this precludes the fact that in each of these files – with all the achievements that you have listed – there are some real concerns. That means ultimately that we need a strong vote in this House, because a lot of this will be in the transposition and in the implementation. This is not some cliché about transposition and implementation, what this means is that asylum numbers are falling, and there is austerity in the European Union. So it will come down to that same set of Member States – not the Presidency, by the way, which has been hugely effective – but Member States, which will have to walk the walk when it comes to transposing some of the good things from each of these directives which the rapporteurs have effectively made happen. We should vote in support of this. Make it happen and ensure that asylum seekers are treated fairly after we vote.