Brussels, 30/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - To tackle illegal immigration, EU heads of state and government meeting in Brussels on Friday 30 October are seriously considering putting in place charter flights to return illegal immigrants. According to the Summit conclusions, member states call on the European Commission to examine “the possibility of regular chartering financed by FRONTEX of joint return flights”. FRONTEX is the Warsaw-based external borders agency.
The idea of EU returns was launched by the President of the Italian Council Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint letter of 23 October to their European counterparts. The two leaders called for the regular chartering by FRONTEX of joint flights at European level for the return of illegal immigrants. The Benelux countries have been using this system since 2004 to return illegal immigrants to Kosovo and Albania. Spain and Italy, and France and Germany also use joint returns to Africa and, in mid-October, France and the United Kingdom organised a joint flight to take 27 Afghans back to Kabul.
The European Pact on Asylum and immigration adopted by the European Council in October 2008 resurrected the issue, calling on member states, on a voluntary basis, to use joint means for the repatriation of illegal immigrants. The system remains voluntary, but the real novelty from member states on Friday is the funding of these flights from the European budget and the fact that they are to be regular. At this point, member states have not discussed the issue in depth and the final adoption of the Stockholm programme, scheduled for the December Council, will be needed, before it is possible to ascertain if the proposal will be followed-up, said Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. The draft Stockholm programme, dating from 16 October, invites member states to cooperate more, with the support of FRONTEX on flights for the return of illegal immigrants.
The text states that reinforcement of FRONTEX should include not only the agency having its own resources, but also an increased role for it in planning, involvement and assessment of joint returns operations. It is at the start of 2010 that discussions will probably become serious, for example with the presentation by the Commission of a plan to strengthen FRONTEX (see EUROPE 9977).
European Immigration Commissioner Jacques Barrot called, nevertheless, in an interview with French daily La Croix on Friday, for a balanced approach. “States have to find a balance between security and humanity,” he said. He drew red lines after the Franco-British joint flight, pointing out that “the forced return of Afghan immigrants to their country must meet three strict conditions”. He said that “national authorities must make sure, prior to the repatriation, that the migrants do not wish to apply for international protection” and “if a request for international protection has been made, national authorities must ensure that this request had been properly dealt with before it was rejected”. Furthermore, “It is essential that national authorities ensure that the lives of the migrants are not in danger on their return to Afghanistan,” he said. In this context, the European Commission is preparing to send a letter to Paris and London, in the next few days, asking them if the recent flight taking 27 Afghans back to Kabul met these conditions.
In addition to the point on joint flights, European leaders, in their conclusions, call for “tangible and effective solidarity with member states under particular pressure”. They welcome the launch of the pilot project for the reallocation, on a voluntary basis, of refugees present in Malta and urge more member states to become involved in the project. France is one of the few countries, for the moment, to lead by example, taking in 92 refugees from Malta. Member states also welcome the enhanced dialogue with Turkey and call for concrete steps to be taken rapidly, in particular as regards readmission and border control. Commissioner Barrot will travel to Ankara next week to try to make progress in this area.
The European Council also wants, “increased operational cooperation between Frontex and countries of origin and transit”. It is also requesting clarification of rules on joint operations at sea. In an effort to deal with asylum applications, they support the setting up before the end of 2009, a European support bureau. During the press conference, the Italian minister for foreign affairs, Franco Frattini, explained that Italy was “entirely satisfied” with the European Council conclusions on immigration and incorporate the major proposals formulated by Italy and France. The minister concluded that, “We are now waiting for these decisions to be translated into concrete action”. (B.C.)