WRITTEN QUESTION E-0100/98 by Umberto Bossi (NI) to the Commission (30 January 1998)

Subject: Measures against clandestine immigration in Europe

The recent immigration of Albanians to Italy has given rise to heated discussions, often useless and exploited to the point of absurdity, that are starting all over again with the arrival of Kurds. According to international

sources thousands of Kurds are arriving on the coasts of Apulia from their territories in Turkey and Iraq, creating a very serious situation from the point of view of health and public order.

Official data indicate that crime (especially in large towns and in the hinterland of north Italy) has increased alarmingly because of incredible Albanian organized crime (prostitution racket and drugs trafficking): in little more than a year the Albanians, whether clandestine or not, have been able to found a veritable criminal empire.

The disastrous Italian legislation on extra-Community immigration (the Martelli law) allows clandestine immigrants to remain in Italy for 15 days before leaving voluntarily: this obviously means that illegal immigrants move on to other European countries (especially Germany, France and Austria).

Will the Commission take concrete steps to ensure that Turkey, which is negotiating accession to the Union, puts an end to violations of human rights vis-à-vis the Kurdish people?

Will the Commission adopt legislative measures to discourage illegal immigrants from outside the Community who intend to settle on Union territory? Does it not think that the Member States should adapt their legislation so that they take in only extra-Community immigrants to whom they can offer regular work, a decent standard of living and adequate social services?

What will it do to prevent the spread of criminal organizations from third countries in Europe?

Answer given by Ms Gradin on behalf of the Commission (16 March 1998)

In 1997 the Commission closely monitored the situation in Italy, notably the influx of Albanians and the arrival of several boatloads of migrants, mainly from Iraq and the neighbouring region. This latter trend affects a good many Member States, and on 26 January the Council adopted a European Union action plan directed towards both migration policy and the Union's external relations. The Commission played a full part in the groundwork for this action plan and is participating in its implementation.

In the case of Turkey, the Commission stresses the importance of an improvement in the human rights situation and the continuance of the democratisation process in Turkey for the development of relations between it and the Community. The Commission fully supports the conclusions of the Luxembourg European Council of December 1997, which stated that strengthening Turkey's links with the European Union also depended on that country's pursuit of the political and economic reforms on which it had embarked, including the alignment of human rights standards and practices on those in force in the European Union; the Council added that such strengthening also depended on respect for and protection of minorities. Despite Ankara's recent decision to suspend all political dialogue with the European Union, the Commission intends to continue to remind its Turkish partners of the European Union's concerns regarding these questions.

According to the Treaty on European Union, immigration policy is regarded as a matter of common interest under the umbrella of cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs. A number of non-mandatory legal instruments have been adopted, in particular on the question of third-country nationals not legally resident in a Member State. The Commission, like the Member States, feels that, with the exception of asylum-seekers, persons admitted on humanitarian grounds and the need to respect the right to family unification, admission of non-EU nationals seeking employment should reflect conditions on the employment market. With this in mind, the Commission has tabled a proposal for a convention on rules for the admission of third-country nationals to the Member States of the European Union, which includes a section on admission for the purposes of paid employment ((OJ C 337, 7.11.1997. )).

The Commission is aware of the problems encountered by the Member States in their battle against illegal immigration and the networks that often organise this traffic. The Commission would also mention its approach to migration and asylum set out in its 1994 Communication on immigration and asylum policies ((COM(94) 23 final. )). This approach links action on controlling migration flows and the full integration of legal immigrants.