Brussels, 01/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 1st April, on her return from a visit to Tunisia carried out jointly with Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström once again called on member states to pledge to take in refugees fleeing Libya, but blocked at the Tunisian border. These refugees, mainly Somalis, Eritreans and Sudanese, cannot be returned to their countries of origin and “do not know where to go”. At a press conference in Brussels, Malmström said that there were still some 7,000 refugees of 30 different nationalities in the camp at the Ras Jedir post, which she had visited, on the border between Tunisia and Libya.
Announcing that Sweden had, that same day, promised to take in a number of these people, Malmström expects other member states to follow suit, “some having already said they were willing” and others “having yet to reply” to the Commission's request, she went on, without naming any of the countries. On Friday 25 March, the Commission held a special meeting with member states to discuss the resettlement of the refugees in Europe. This is a discussion she intends to pursue at the next Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in Luxembourg on 11 April.
While in Tunisia, Malmström raised the issue, currently problematic for Italy, of illegal immigration. She said that the Tunisian authorities had undertaken to give consideration to the repatriation of thousands of Tunisians who had arrived on the island of Lampedusa over the last few weeks but who do not qualify for international protection or refugee status. So far, Tunis has taken back very few of its nationals. Italy is highly critical of this attitude. On Friday, Malmström could offer no guarantees that Tunisia would take steps to remedy the problem, and could only say that the country was ready to “negotiate”. She said she had given the Tunisian government assurances that the EU would provide assistance, including financial, for these “if possible, voluntary” repatriations. In the row between Rome and Paris - France having been criticised for sending many Tunisian migrants who reached France back to Italy - Malmström said that she had not been asked directly to help resolve the dispute. In the press room, she said, however, that, at first sight, France had no right to send these Tunisian migrants back to Italy under the terms of the freedom of movement rules in the Schengen Area. According to one source, France claims that such returns are possible “since there is a bilateral readmission agreement between France and Italy”. This, however, is a largely legal matter, which the commissioner will have to investigate more closely.
Malmström said that she had gone to Tunisia, just as she had gone to Egypt, to lay the foundations for future mobility partnerships, and, in particular, to hold talks on visas for certain categories of people. She also discussed improving border management and developing an asylum system with the Tunisian authorities. Home affairs ministers will have the opportunity to discuss and assess all these talks and contacts when she briefs them in Luxembourg on 11 April. (S.P./transl.rt)