WRITTEN QUESTION E-2263/00

by Brice Hortefeux (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 July 2000)

Subject: The Community's Odysseus programme of training, exchanges and cooperation

On 19 June 2000 customs officers in the British port of Dover discovered 58 illegal immigrants who had died in terrible circumstances while travelling clandestinely to Great Britain. This tragedy highlighted the modesty of the means at the EU's disposal to fight against the trade in illegal immigrants.

The Odysseus programme of training, exchanges and cooperation in the areas of asylum policy, immigration and the crossing of the EU's external borders has a budget of only 12 million for the period 1998-2002. The programme is open to the Member States of the European Union and, in association, to the applicant countries. Training programmes, exchanges of officials or others responsible for these questions, and studies and research in these areas can be carried out under the programme. The Commission is responsible for the implementation of the measures carried out under the programme. The programme offers funding for projects proposed by public or private institutions, non-governmental organisations, research institutes, universities and training bodies.

1. How does the Commission assess the operation and objectives of this programme now that it has reached its mid-term point?

2. In view of its budget, does the Odysseus programme not have too many objectives? Are the measures for which the programme offers funding prioritised in the light of what is needed to combat illegal immigration in particular?

3. Are the budget, the operation by invitation to tender and the objectives of the programme suited to needs in the area of policy on asylum, immigration and the crossing of external frontiers?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

The Commission shares the Honorable Member's concerns and confirms that, in accordance with the mandate conferred on it following the Feira European Council, it is in the process of putting together an overall strategy on the management of migratory flows, taking into account the requirements of the fight against clandestine immigration and the dismantling of criminal networks trafficking in human beings.

1. The Commission assesses the Odysseus programme at various levels. Firstly, there is an internal assessment in the shape of the report that the Commission sends annually to Parliament and the Council. The 1999 activity report should come out shortly. In addition, there is an external survey carried out by an independent consultancy, selected by tender, which, on examination of the cooperation programmes run under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), gave a satisfactory assessment of the extent to which the Odysseus programme fulfilled the objectives which had been set for it in its legal basis (joint action of 19 March 1998 adopted by the Council(1)). Finally, the programme was given a positive assessment by the speakers at the conference organised on 24 November 1999 in Brussels in the presence of representatives of Parliament, with all of Odysseus' external partners. While there were a number of criticisms, comments and suggestions at this conference, the purpose of which was to take stock of the two years of implementation, most participants shared the view that the programme was responding satisfactorily to the objectives it had been set.

2. The programme's objectives and its financial allocation are set in the legal basis which was adopted before the Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force and before the conclusions of the Tampere European Council were drawn up. The adoption of Odysseus was a step towards greater cooperation and exchange in the fields of asylum, immigration and the

crossing of external borders. Like the other programmes under Title VI of the TEU (Grotius, Oisin, Stop and Falcone), Odysseus pursues the general objectives of a better understanding of the problems involved in these fields and aims to promote a Community dimension among the players (administrations, non-governmental organisations, international institutions, academics) in charge of these questions.

Nonetheless, the Commission has always ensured, in its annual programme, that a significant share of the budget is allocated to carrying out measures with topical relevance. Thus, if we take the selection made for the year 2000 as an example, the programme's management committee selected 13 projects (out of 36) proposed by the Commission on the fight against illegal immigration, trafficking in human beings and the irregular crossing of the Union's external borders.

3. In the light of the new developments introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, the objectives of the Vienna action plan aimed at creating an area of freedom, security and justice and the conclusions of the Tampere European Council, the Commission considers that the imminent expiry of the programme's funding and legal basis should provide an opportunity to finalise a Community instrument meeting the new needs arising from the development of common policies in the fields covered by Articles 62 and 63 of the EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 99, 31.3.1998.