Policy Sections
Mini Sections
The European Union will issue new immigration policy proposals by the end of October, Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said yesterday (23 August), responding to Italy's plea for more coordinated EU action.
A common EU immigration policy has been pursued for years by Italy and other Southern European members, whose governments complain that they have been left alone to deal with a problem that concerns all European countries.
The absence of border controls within the EU makes it easier for an illegal migrant to enter one country and move to others.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who served as EU justice and home affairs commissioner with powers on immigration before joining the present Italian government, called repeatedly for stronger EU competencies on immigration. But such calls have thus far failed to attract genuine support in Brussels.
Immigration was a hot topic in Italy during the campaign for the European Parliament elections in June. One EU-wide poll suggested it is twice as important an issue for Italians as the rest of Europe, with 69% of Italians rating it as a top priority compared to an EU average of 31% (EurActiv 04/06/09).
"We will have a first proposal from the EU with regard to distribution criteria for immigration flows among the 27 [EU member states]," Bildt said on the sidelines of a conference at the Italian seaside town of Rimini.
Franco Frattini, the foreing minister of Italy, a country where thousands of migrants land each year after perilous journeys across the Mediterranean from Africa, said earlier that the problem must not be left to countries on the bloc's edges.
"We must consider this a European problem. The EU has made many statements [...] but has not yet said just what should happen when a group of migrants reaches the borders of Europe," Franco Frattini told a news conference.
Last Thursday (20 August), Italian authorities found a boat carrying five Eritrean migrants who said 73 others had died during the crossing. "All we Europeans, all 27 countries, must bear responsibility for these people," Frattini said.
The Italian catholic newspaper Avvenire, close to the Vatican, went on the offensive on Friday by attacking
the new approach of pretending to not see what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea. The paper accused the Italian and European authorities of neglecting to take care of the hundreds of boats full of immigrants arriving on European shores every year.
Bildt said the European Commission would issue a policy draft in time for a scheduled meeting of EU foreign ministers in October (possibly at their meeting in Luxembourg on 12 October).
This would only be a first step, he said, since "such a big problem cannot be solved in a single meeting". Sweden assumed the six-month EU presidency in July.
Italy has asked Malta to let it take over sea rescues in some Maltese waters, saying the tiny EU island state was incapable of doing the job properly. But Malta rejected the proposal on Saturday (22 August).
Frattini said talks with Malta must continue, perhaps involving other countries.
"We continue to believe the talks which have been going on for 10 years with Malta over that area of sea are indispensable for the whole international community," Frattini said.
Some 36,900 illegal immigrants arrived in Italy by boat last year, a rise of 75% from 2007, according to the Interior Ministry.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Turkey
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Technorati
News: 
Europeans challenge Europe
Evropa.dnevnik.bg:
EurActiv.cz:
EurActiv.de:
EurActiv.fr:
EurActiv.hu:
EurActiv.pl:
EurActiv.ro:
EurActiv.sk:
EurActiv.com.tr: