Sarah speaking about biometric identifiers and visa applications (2)

Speech by Sarah Ludford (rapporteur) delivered to European Parliament on Tue 24th Mar 2009

Madam President, I would like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs who have worked with me. I have been 'Mrs VIS' for over four years and, together with the shadows, we have formed quite a close club and I will miss you all. I will particularly miss you, if I may say so, Madam President, as we may not see each other after June. We have been an all-female club, which has been delightful, but I would also like to thank all the staff involved, who have not all been female. They have been excellent.

I respect the positions of Ms Kaufmann and Ms Ždanoka. I understand their positions and I thank them very much for taking a full part in the negotiations and in the discussions even though, as they pointed out, they cannot support the outcome.

I am very sad that Mr Coelho is not able to support this compromise. I hope he understands how hard I fought for some of the elements that he also wanted. After all they were in my original report. If he thinks I could have achieved more, that might cause some spluttering in the Council and Commission because I think they saw me as quite a tough customer to deal with.

Mr Batten has left the Chamber. I think that was part of the UKIP election campaign. As Mrs Ţicău pointed out, the UK is not party to the Visa Information System as the country is not in Schengen, so the UK has full control of its own borders. I think Mr Batten, as usual, was somewhat muddled in his thinking.

I thank all the other speakers who made constructive contributions. I am glad that we are putting this to bed as I personally feel that I wish to resign from being 'Mrs VIS' after this.