WRITTEN QUESTION P-2948/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Council

(14 October 2002)

Subject: Shipwreck of illegal immigrants off Sicily

The burning issue of illegal immigration in Sicily is increasingly taking on emergency proportions.

The number of illegal immigrants landing in Sicily has risen from 2 759 in 2001 to 12 124 at present, not including the number of dead.

In the last few days, yet another tragic incident has occurred, first with the shipwreck of non-Community immigrants, and then the deaths of several men, women and children, victims of criminal organisations involved in the traffic in human beings and willing to sacrifice the lives of desperate people who will try anything to avoid being captured.

The author of this question tabled an earlier written question (E-3653/01(1)) on setting up an immigration monitoring centre.

Given the above:

- has the Council already drawn up a bilateral regional cooperation programme with the various countries of the Mediterranean Basin in the field of justice and home affairs, aimed at limiting and regulating migration flows towards the southern European coastline?

- does this programme make provision for the establishment of an immigration monitoring centre, responsible for neutralising at source the vast and alarming problem of illegal immigration, and the establishment of a multinational police force, responsible for identifying and combating those who exploit people forced to leave their countries out of despair?

- why has the monitoring centre not been set up and by what reasonable deadline does the Council plan to set it up?

(1) OJ C 92 E, 17.4.2003, p. 3.

Reply

(3 March 2003)

1. It should be pointed out to the Honourable Member that, at EU level, as indicated in particular in the comprehensive plan to combat illegal immigration and trafficking of human beings in the European Union, adopted by the Council on 28 February 2002 and published in the Official Journal(1), a feasibility study is being carried out with a view to developing a European system for exchanging information on asylum, migration and countries of origin. On the basis of that study's findings, the Commission should shortly be presenting the Council with proposals for the establishment and implementation of such a system. Mention should also be made of regional cooperation under the JHA regional programme for the Mediterranean (approved at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Valencia in April 2002) and cooperation between Member States under the Spanish, Greek, Italian and United Kingdom project for maritime border control in the Mediterranean, funded from the ARGO programme, budget heading B7-667 and MEDA, as well as by Member States.

2. As regards cooperation with Mediterranean countries, it should be noted that, under the MEDA 2002 regional financing plan shortly to be submitted to the Council, the Commission intends to make funding available for the adoption and implementation of, among other measures, various initiatives relating to immigration. Managing migration flows and combating illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings should be among the aims of measures eligible for funding under the plan.

(1) OJ C 142, 14.6.2002, p. 23 (point 46).