WRITTEN QUESTION E-2192/00

by Isidoro Sánchez García (ELDR) to the Commission

(3 July 2000)

Subject: Assessment of Community strategy vis-à-vis immigration from Africa

How does the Commission assess the results obtained following the implementation of the Community strategy designed to meet the challenges posed by immigration from Africa, particularly in regions which form the European Union's external frontiers?

Anwer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(20 September 2000)

The Commission would like to point out that there is no specific Community strategy vis-à-vis immigration from Africa.

It is only since the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty on 1 May 1999 that the Community enjoys powers in the field of immigration policy (Title IV of the EC Treaty, Articles 61 et seq.). At the special European Council meeting, held in Tampere (Finland) on 15 and 16 October 1999, the Heads of State and Government of the 15 Member States adopted far-reaching conclusions on the way in which the future Union immigration and asylum policy should be shaped.

The Heads of State and Government underlined the need for the development of a comprehensive approach to migration addressing political, human rights and development issues in countries and regions of origin and transit. In this connection, reference was made to the five action plans prepared by the high level working group on migration and asylum which target the situation in a number of third countries and could be considered a first step in the development of such a policy. Of these five action plans, two focus on African countries, i.e. Morocco and Somalia.

The Heads of State and Government also expressed their support for the management of migration flows at all stages and called for the development, in close co-operation with countries of origin and transit, of information campaigns on the possibilities for legal migration, and for the prevention of all forms of smuggling and trafficking in human beings. To this end, they invited the Council and Member States to tackle, at its source, illegal immigration, especially by combating those who engage in trafficking of human beings and economic exploitation of migrants, to adopt legislation to this end, foreseeing severe sanctions against this serious crime, to direct, together with Europol, efforts to detecting and dismantling the organised criminal networks involved,

to secure the rights of the victims of trafficking in people with special emphasis on women and children, to assist the countries of origin and of transit in order to help the authorities of those countries to strengthen their ability to combat effectively trafficking in human beings and to cope with their readmission obligations towards the Union and the Member States, and to promote closer co-operation and mutual technical assistance between the Member States' border control services, such as exchange programmes and technology transfers, especially on maritime borders, and for the rapid inclusion of the applicant States in this co-operation.

When presenting initiatives of the Union relevant for migration isues related to Africa, the Africa-Europe Summit, which was organised under the aegis of the Organization of African Union (OAU) and the Union in Cairo on 3 and 4 April 2000, deserves mentioning. In a declaration, the Heads of State and Governments of the African States and of the Union as well as the President of the Commission gave special attention to migration issues. They acknowledged that a comprehensive and integrated approach is needed to tackle the issue of migration and the separate but related issue of asylum and will co-operate in this field. It was recognised that the loss of skilled migrants from Africa constitutes a continental brain-drain problem. The need for co-operation to address the root causes of migration both in countries of origin and transit and in recipient countries was underlined.

In the action plan, which accompanied the declaration, the participants agreed a set of measures in the area of migration and which should guide the activities until the second summit to take place in Europe in 2003. The measures include the agreement to provide support, as appropriate, to African countries in ensuring free intra-African mobility of labour and migration in the spirit of the Abuja treaty. Heads of State and Government also agreed to collaborate in addressing the root causes of migration and asylum-seeking in source, transit and recipient countries and to collaborate further in the issue of the reciprocal integration of migrants, migrant rights and re-admission agreements between the European and African countries.