Africa, Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Population

REFUGEES: EU Divisions over Immigration Deepen

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Aug 26 2004 (IPS) - Immigration policy threatens to divide EU member states as the new European Commission looks for a common stand.

Control of European Union (EU) borders will fall to commissioner for justice and home affairs Rocco Buttiglione after the new commission takes charge Nov. 1. The European Commission is the executive arm of the EU.

Earlier this week Buttiglione described immigration as a "time bomb". Member states must work more closely together to control "the flood of refugees," he said. Buttiglione said EU member states must agree on common criteria for offering asylum.

"If countries are going to pay for coastal security services, they must have a say on how and for what the money is spent," he told the Financial Times Deutschland Wednesday (Aug. 26). Sharing costs can come only after establishing a common European immigration policy, he said.

Buttiglione also indicated that he would like to see a refugee detention centre set up in North Africa to process asylum-seekers.

But such a move could prove "self-defeating and more expensive than dealing with claims within Europe," says the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) which offers free legal advice and representation service to immigrants and asylum seekers.

To become acceptable such centres would need to provide "adequate protection, access to independent competent legal advice, welfare provision during the process, and guaranteed resettlement in EU states for those granted refugee status or temporary protection until it is safe to return them to their country of origin," it says in a statement.

Buttiglione’s proposals will be discussed at a meeting to be attended by Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Britain in October in Florence. Italy and Germany are working on a joint EU plan to fight illegal immigration.

Illegal immigration is a huge problem in Buttiglione’s home country Italy. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a deal with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi Wednesday for Italian boats to patrol the Libyan coast to stop the flow of illegal immigration from Africa.

Berlusconi called for closer international cooperation following the meeting. He said the problem of illegal immigration was not Italian and Libyan, but European and African.

The Italian government’s tough stance contrasts strongly with that of Spain which also gets a large number of immigrants across its long sea borders.

The socialist government in Spain indicated earlier this week that it would offer amnesty to illegal immigrants already in the country. It said it would stop turning back boats before they reached its shores. At the same time, Spain is planning to ask the EU for more funds to strengthen border controls.

Immigration secretary Consuelo Rumi told the Spanish daily El Pais this week that illegal immigrants with a valid work contract will be eligible for the amnesty. "It is about easing the social integration of foreigners but also about combating the black market in immigrant labour," she said.

But it should be "very clear" that Spain would not give papers to all foreigners, she said.

Under the new plans to be unveiled next month, the government also proposes to offer residence permits to immigrants who blow the whistle on those who employ immigrants without a work contract.

Rumi called on other European leaders to follow Spain’s lead and address the failings of their policies. Spain is virtually alone in proposing such a tolerant policy towards immigrants from outside the EU.

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah from the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research supports a common immigration policy.

"Every state should have the right to impose its own border regime and given the context of strong external borders and loosening internal borders in the EU, Italy’s stance is understandable," she told IPS. "However, cooperation between EU states and neighbouring regions is also welcome."

But all issues around immigration need to be addressed, she said. "Managing migration cannot be simply about tougher policing of borders, especially when this results in increasingly desperate, dangerous and tragic methods of migration," she said. "More is needed to address the root causes of why people migrate in the first place and also to ensure that those who are genuinely in need of protection have access to asylum."

A common policy has not been agreed so far because the most powerful EU members are reluctant to give up control of national security.

The European Commission has proposed a two-track policy: establishing a common legal framework for the admission and stay of third country nationals, and an open coordination procedure to encourage gradual convergence of policies not covered by European legislation.