Mr President, the conclusions of the Thessaloniki European Council of 19 and 20 June expressed the need to speed up work on adopting, before the end of 2003, a legal instrument intended officially to create a network of ‘Immigration’ liaison officers (ILOs). The idea is that all these ‘Immigration’ liaison officers of the Member States, located in the same foreign country, should work effectively together, within networks, in order to contribute to the gradual establishment of the coordinated and integrated management of our external borders. The regulation proposed by Greece is needed to provide a framework for formalising and strengthening the informal cooperation that already exists between liaison officers. The ideal situation would be to have Community ‘Immigration’ liaison officers with their own duties, who are trained and paid by the Union, but unfortunately neither the jurisdiction nor the budget for this yet exists and some States remain unconvinced. Liaison officers symbolise the external representation of the Member States, and some people do not look favourably on any loss of their national prerogative. In the meantime, this new proposal for a regulation is, to my mind, a step towards achieving greater transparency. There are essentially three types of task that would be given to the liaison officers: they would help to prevent illegal immigration and to combat the traffickers, they would help to return illegal immigrants and would contribute to the management of legal immigration. This last point is still rather vague, however, since the form that this management might take is not set out in any of the regulation’s articles and yet is, I believe, a crucial matter. This is, therefore, a shortcoming that needs to be remedied and, in fact, contrary to what some would have us believe, foreigners are not dangerous; they are in danger themselves. People who leave their country, their friends and family, to immigrate to the European Union do so for significant reasons that are often matters of life or death. Each one of us would probably, in the same economic, social, psychological and emotional conditions, do the same. We must, therefore, disseminate information on the possibilities of legal immigration in the countries concerned. To achieve this, I believe we must all be clear about our immigration policy, which is not currently the case. We must also warn people about the risk that they face of falling into the hands of unscrupulous smugglers or of finding themselves involved with a slave-trading network. In order, however, for these measures to be truly effective, I call on the Member States to ensure that they are not themselves the cause of some illegal activity. To this end they should, as I see it, act on two fronts: firstly, on the status of temporary workers. Studies of the black labour market in European farming indeed show that undeclared overtime and the use of illegal methods of recruiting for the farming labour force, which sometimes border on slavery, are increasing in the Member States. Often, the major distribution chains put pressure on producers, who then use unemployed and illegal workers and it is unthinkable that we should accept contracts that place workers beyond the law. I wish to emphasise that, very often, making legislation tougher reduces the number of legal workers and increases the number of illegal workers, whom it in no way prevents getting through. Furthermore, it is crucial that we avoid making a link between immigration and organised crime. Illegal immigrants are not criminals, but human beings who have not been fortunate enough to be born in the right place. A clearer distinction should therefore be made between the roles of liaison officers, ‘Immigration’ liaison officers, airport liaison officers, documentary advisers, technical advisers and consular services, all of which deal with immigration issues, and it would also appear appropriate to delineate the area of activity of liaison officers and precisely define their tasks. There should also be some harmonisation, even if only partial, of the training they should receive. Some ILOs interviewed when the Danish Presidency report was being drafted see this as a sine qua non for the creation of a genuine network. This training could normally be given in the form of seminars and workshops, which would have the undeniable advantage of fostering personal contact – the very essence of a network. In conclusion, I would like to emphasise that in no case must immigration be seen as a threat. In no case must illegal immigrants be seen as criminals. They are victims, because they have had the misfortune to be born in a beleaguered country. They are victims because they are desperate and are looking for compassion. If the European Union is incapable of understanding that, then we can only despair of progress and of the civilised world.

Political group: PSE