Report on Migration and Asylum Policy in the EP

Report from the JHA Council by Minister for Development Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy Maj-Inger Klingvall on migration and asylum policy issues in the European Parliamentary Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs on 19 June 2001.

Mr. Chairman, Honorable Members of the European Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

It is a great honor for me, as President-in-Office of the Council to return to the European Parliamentary Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights and Justice and Home Affairs. I would therefore like to thank you for the invitation which gives me the opportunity not only to inform about the results of the latest meeting of the Council of Ministers taking place on 28-29 May, but also to summarise briefly the achievements made during the Swedish Presidency.

To start with, I would like to thank you for cooperating so willingly. Important legal instruments in the area of asylum, migration and visa policy are on the Council agenda and I value the dialogue between the European Parliament and the Council on these issues.

I will begin with a short summary of the decisions made by the Council during the Swedish Presidency.

Summary

After long and intensive negotiations at the last Council meeting, a political agreement could be reached on three legal instruments: the Directive on temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons in need of international protection, the Directive defining facilitation of unauthorized entry, movement and residence together with the framework decision on strengthening the penal framework for combating facilitation of unauthorized entry and residence, and the Directive with supplementary regulations for Article 26 of the Convention on the implementation of the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985. As you know, the Council has reached decisions on a number of issues regarding visa policy. An important new feature of the past six months has also been the Nordic countries' operative entry into Schengen. Alongside the legislative work, talks on measures enabling systematic asylum and migration policies and ways of preventing and curbing illegal immigration have been held with China, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Western Balkans countries. The Presidency has also held a seminar on children in armed conflict and displaced children, an asylum seminar and a seminar on statistics. The conclusions of these have been reported to and adopted by the Council. In the High Level Group for asylum and migration, preventive cooperation with countries of origin and transit countries has made considerable progress. The dialogue both with international organizations and our partner countries has been strengthened.

The Directive on temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons in need of international protection.

The Directive on Temporary Protection has been a priority issue during the Presidency. The agreement represents a breakthrough in the legislative and harmonization work of the EU in the field of asylum and migration. The directive will be one of the first building stones in the creation of a common asylum system. The aim of the directive is that the EU will assume common responsibility for providing immediate temporary protection of large numbers of displaced persons in crisis situations. If there is a massive influx of displaced persons, as occurring during the Bosnian or Kosovo conflicts, the EU will be better prepared. At the same time, the directive guarantees individual rights to seek asylum to those wishing to gain a hearing regarding the need for more long-term protection. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has welcomed the agreement. Formal decisions, to confirm the Council's political agreement on this issues, will hopefully be made next week.

The directive on family reunification.

The Directive on family reunification has also been a high priority issue during the Presidency. Our original ambition was to reach a political agreement on the issue at the last Council meeting. During negotiations before the Council meeting, however, it was clear that further work remains to be done before an agreement can be reached. Instead, we had a discussion on principles for certain key issues.

In principle we are agreed that the nuclear family, at any rate, should have the right to be reunited. Regarding other relatives, it is up to the Member States to decide the extent to which reunification will be permitted. As a result of the meeting, concern was expressed that the directive had become weaker. Immigration of close relatives is important - it comprises over half of total immigration in many Member States - and it is therefore vital that we can agree on common rules and norms extending beyond a smallest common denominator.

The Directive defining facilitation of unauthorized entry, movement and residence and the framework decision on strengthening the penal framework for combating facilitation of unauthorized entry and residence (human smuggling)

The agenda of the Council meeting of 28-29 May contained the French initiative on human smuggling and carrier responsibility. The background of these proposals is, inter alia, the statement by the heads of state and government at the Council meeting in Feira one year ago, on strengthening measures against crimes underlying illegal immigration. This meeting was held shortly after the shocking tragedy in Dover, in which 58 people died.

We succeeded at the last Council meeting in reaching agreement on the directive defining facilitation of unauthorized entry, movement and residence and the framework decision on strengthening the penal framework for combating facilitation of unauthorized entry and residence. The directive contains a voluntary humanitarian clause which allows people suspected of assisting people to enter a country illegally to evade prosecution under the law if they have done so for humanitarian reasons. Only those assisting illegal residence for commercial reasons are criminally liable.

It was decided that the lowest maximum penalty for human smuggling would be eight years. Lengths of sentences may be shorter, although no shorter than six years, if they need to comply with a set of rules in a national penalty system. I would like to emphasize that it is important for the EU to have common rules to punish smugglers of humans who exploit innocent people in a most cynical manner. At the same time, making allowance for actions undertaken for humanitarian reasons is necessary. Before an agreement can be reached, some Parliamentary reservations must be lifted.

The directive on regulations supplementing the article in the convention on the implementation of the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985.

A political agreement was also reached in the Council meeting on common rules for economic sanctions when demanding carrier responsibility. The directive regulates economic sanctions against transporters who do not meet the requirement of checking that all passengers have the necessary travel documents. I would like to emphasize that possible forgeries must be clearly evident for the carrier to be held responsible.

I would also like to point out that there is scope for taking into consideration the obligations of the Member States under international law as concerns people seeking international protection. Here too, the common procedure aims at fulfilling the demands expressed by the European Council in Feira a year ago. A decision is expected next week.

Council conclusions on statistics (from the statistics seminar on 4 April)

Better statistics on asylum and migration issues have also been a priority issue during the Presidency. At the last meeting, we made a decision on Council conclusions. As a direct result of a Swedish initiative, the EU will now be given annual reports on immigration and refugee reception. Sweden has compiled a book, as an example of such a report, containing statistical material on migration in Sweden - "Sweden in 2000 - A Country of Migration, Past, present , future". I have presented a number of copies to the Committee's office. Reliable and comparable statistics are important for informed debate and for harmonization based on sound information about the real situation. The Belgian Presidency is organizing a follow-up meeting in October.

HLWG (High Level Working Group for Asylum and Migration)

The High Level Group for Asylum and Migration has been prioritized during the Presidency. A progress report was noted at the last Council meeting. Preventive work to counteract the causes of flight, a dialogue with countries of origin and transit countries and coordination between conflict prevention, development and migration policy measures have been strengthened during the Swedish Presidency. The dialogue between the EU and Albania, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Turkey has been reinforced. Implementation of the action plans has now progressed quite considerably.

External relations

The Presidency has been active in strengthening EU cooperation with several countries outside the EU. Discussions have included preventive measures for a well-functioning asylum and migration policy with China, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the countries in the Western Balkans. The objective has also been to curb illegal immigration.

Cooperation has been particularly intensive with the countries in the Western Balkans. Strong clauses on justice and home affairs have been included in the stabilization and association agreements with these countries. This is highly important when planning the development assistance programme in the Western Balkans, Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilization (CARDS). When the EU Troika visited Sarajevo, the EU and the countries in the Western Balkans adopted a declaration on greater regional cooperation in the sphere of migration.

We have also developed cooperation in migration with our partner countries Russia and Ukraine. At the beginning of June, these countries were invited to separate meetings with all the Member States within the framework of the Strategic Committee for Immigration, Borders and Asylum. The Committee sent a clear signal to the Commission that TACIS development assistance should be directed more at migration policy measures - and by this I do not merely mean border control - without focusing on a holistic perspective in the issue. In addition, an EU/Ukraine action plan for justice and home affairs issues is being prepared in the Council.

Similar cooperation is underway with the Mediterranean countries within the framework of the Barcelona process.

In addition, migration policy and asylum issues have been high on the agenda of the transatlantic dialogue during the last six months.

Seminar "Children in Armed Conflict and Displaced Children"

I led a high level seminar on children in armed conflict and displaced children in Norrköping on 1-2 March. One result of the seminar was an undertaking by Commissioner Vitorino to incorporate a child rights perspective into forthcoming legislative proposals on asylum and migration. I informed the Council of the Presidency conclusions at the last Council meeting.

Asylum seminar

The Swedish Migration Board organized a seminar at high official level to discuss the "International Protection within One Single Asylum Procedure". Taking part were delegates from Member States, candidate countries, Canada, Norway, the USA, Council institutions, the UNHCR and NGOs. Among the aims of the meeting was to discuss current issues on international protection, which also provided the Commission with a basis for its work in formulating proposals for directives on a definition of refugees and subsidiary protection.

Enlargement

Enlargement was also an issue to which priority was given. In connection with the Council of Ministers meeting (16 March), there was a joint meeting of ministers of justice and ministers of home affairs, both from candidate countries and EU Member States. Several of the candidate countries have made great progress in building up asylum and migration policy legal orders, and border controls for curbing illegal immigration that comply with the norms of the EU. Within the framework of the work on exchanging statistical data and the transatlantic dialogue, the candidate countries have taken part in several seminars and working groups.

During the Swedish Presidency, the EU has also started internal negotiations on the EU position on chapter 24 on justice and home affairs with five candidate countries, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia.

Up to now, the collective appraisal group has completed three country reports during the Swedish Presidency -- on Estonia, Malta and Poland.

Decisions at the Council meeting on 28-29 May

We have made several decisions involving visa policy during the Swedish Presidency. At the last Council meeting, decisions were made on

The regulation governing free movement of citizens of third countries that hold visas for long stays. The aim is to facilitate free movement for holders of national visas which at the moment only allow the holder to pass through the territories of the other Member States once. This regulation will give the holder of a long-term visa greater opportunities to move freely between the Member States.

Council conclusions on local consular cooperation The decision contains common recommendations related to Schengen on how visa applications should be handled at the Schengen missions around at the world.

Council conclusions on the establishment of a network of national liaison officers to help control illegal migration via the Western Balkans. This legal instrument means the establishment of a network of national liaison officers to help control illegal migration via the Western Balkans. (voluntary participation)

The Directive on mutual recognition of decisions prohibiting an unsuccessful residence permit applicant from a third country from returning. This directive means that Member States will be able to implement a decision on refusal or return made by another Member State.

The Council's decision to empower the Commission to undertake negotiations with Hongkong SAR and Macao on readmission agreements between the European Union and Hongkong SAR and Macao. The decision means that the Council has authorized the Commission to negotiate readmission agreements with Hongkong and Macao.

Council conclusions on control of minors at the external borders of Member States were decided upon on 28-29 May. In practice, it is a call for border authorities to be more alert regarding children traveling out of the country with only one adult. The background is several cases in which children have been kidnapped by one parent or by someone else, but also clear cases of the trade in children for sexual commercial exploitation. The conclusions are not obligatory.

In conclusion,

Dear Colleagues,

The Presidency has been short and intensive, and also very exciting. I am happy to say that I, as Minister for Development Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy, have been privileged to have the honor to lead two different Councils of Ministers (the Council for Justice and Home Affairs, and the Council for Development Issues). It has been a great responsibility to lead this work, and I would like to thank you for cooperating so willingly.

All Member States safeguard their national legislation, but to make progress we have to learn to give and take, to compromise and sometime to lose something that is dear to us nationally, in order to win something else, to reach our common objectives. I should like to conclude by thanking you all. I should particularly like to thank Mr. Watson. An additional thanks is extended to the interpreters. Now I should like to wish you all a good and relaxing summer and to say that I feel that I am transferring the baton into safe hands, those of my Belgian colleagues, Minister of Home Affairs, Antoine DUQUESNE and Minister of Justice Marc VERWILGHEN, who will carry on the work of the EU.

Thank you!

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - Migration and Development (12/10/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Migration issues (5/10/2001)