Brussels, 24/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - In line with the demands of the European Council of 11 and 24 March and following on from the communication on “Dialogue for migration, mobility and security with the Southern Mediterranean countries”, presented on 8 March, the Commission brought forward a communication on Tuesday 24 May which aims ultimately to establish a “Dialogue for migration, mobility and security” with the countries of the region, beginning with Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. This dialogue will focus, for example, on better management of legal migration for certain categories of person from these countries, by means of visa facilitation mechanisms, and, in return, on stronger management by the countries themselves of the flows of illegal migrants, through readmission agreements, for instance. On Tuesday, the Commission also brought forward other proposals on the visa system and the 2010 report on asylum and migration (see related articles).
The communication presented by Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström seeks to respond directly to European Council demands that the European Commission make contact as quickly as possible with the authorities of the region to discuss migration - at a time when thousands of Tunisians were beginning to arrive on the Italian coast after the fall of Ben Ali (more than 25,000 since January). Malmström travelled to Egypt then Tunisia at the end of March for discussions on mobility and security partnerships and to begin talks.
In its text of 24 May, the Commission, after noting initiatives undertaken since the start of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings and the beginning of the war in Libya, stated that the aim of the dialogue on migration, mobility and security was to support and encourage the reform taking place by giving the citizens of these countries greater opportunities to travel to member states while, at the same time, addressing the primary causes of the inflow of migrants. The dialogue and partnerships will be negotiated and will apply on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation in each of the countries and also on the willingness of their authorities to manage migration. Conditionality will be a basic principle in all future negotiations.
In concrete terms, the EU will provide the citizens of these countries with opportunities for legal labour migration depending on identified needs on European labour markets, the Commission says. A number of member states, such as France and the United Kingdom, have indicated over the course of the last few weeks that they intended to cut legal labour migration, however. Those member states interested will be able to set quotas for nationals of third countries to come and jobs vacancies, and to match their labour needs and search for specific professional skills and qualifications with the appropriate departments in the third countries and bring to Europe, for example, by means of multi-entry visas, researchers, students and business people. However, the Commission goes on, increased mobility will depend on a number of preconditions being met. These include: - agreements on the voluntary return of illegal migrants; - conclusion of re-admission agreements with the EU (there already is a negotiating mandate for talks with Morocco, though not with Tunisia or Egypt) relating to re-admission of nationals and citizens of third countries; - conclusion of agreements with Frontex, the European border management agency. These countries will be required, generally, to develop their border and migratory-flow management capabilities, for example, by consolidating their document security know-how, tackling organised crime and human trafficking. These proposals will form part of the package of initiatives to be discussed by the JHA Council at the start of June and the European Council at the end of the same month. (S.P./transl.rt)