WRITTEN QUESTION E-1745/99

by Isidoro Sánchez García (ELDR) to the Council

(1 October 1999)

Subject: Immigration and the outermost regions

Despite the goodwill the Council has shown in recent years in conducting a sensible immigration and asylum policy, there is still illegal immigration and it is taking as its point of entry into the European Union's territory some of the outermost regions close to the African continent, as is happening with the Canary Islands.

How does the Council propose to give practical shape to Community strategy in order to control immigration of this kind and what, if any, operational programme will it be carrying out in this unusual frontier region?

Reply

(7 December 1999)

1. The question posed by the Honourable Member relates to the Council's actions as regards, on the one hand, the controls by Member States of external air and maritime borders and, on the other hand, the root causes of flight and migration from some African countries.

2. Measures to strengthen the effectiveness of controls by Member States of external air and maritime borders have been mainly developed in the Schengen framework, and are now integrated in the European Union acquis, following the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty. Although these measures are carried out by Member States, the Council is monitoring their effective implementation in its competent bodies. As an example, practical measures to prevent illegal immigration by air and sea are undertaken, in cooperation with selected African countries, on the basis of the Decision of the Schengen Executive Committee of 18 December 1998 on coordinated deployment of document advisers.

3. In addition to the Schengen acquis, practical measures of this type are also being developed, on behalf of the EU as a whole, on the basis of the pre-existing European Union acquis, specifically the Joint Position of 25 October 1996 on pre-frontier assistance and training assignments (OJ No L 281, 31.10.1996). Such measures, which will be coordinated within the competent Council bodies, however, do not concern for the time being any African country.

4. Regarding the root causes for flight or migration from some African countries, reference is made to the Action Plan for Morocco, approved by the Council on 11 October 1999. This Action Plan is part of a group of five Action Plans, each one defining a comprehensive and coherent approach targeted at the situation of an important country of origin and/or transit of asylum-seekers and migrants. For each country selected, the Action Plans present a coherent and well-balanced combination of the various possibilities of the European Union in the area of Foreign Affairs, Development, Humanitarian and Economic assistance.

5. In the Action Plan for Morocco, this country was considered as a country of origin as well as of transit of economic migrants toward European countries. The measures recommended in this Action Plan include specifically the following: Building on existing channels to improve collection of relevant data, dissemination of correct information on migration, development of strategies to combat illegal trafficking, promotion of measures aimed at implementing readmission agreements. Promotion of foreign direct investment, vocational training and self-employment and small-scale enterprises. Facilitation of voluntary return and reintegration, integration into society of Moroccans legally residing in EU countries.

6. The Tampere European Council, held on 15 and 16 October 1999, considered as a useful contribution the first action plans approved by the Council, and invited the Council and the Commission to report back on their implementation to the European Council in December 2000.