Brussels, 02/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a column on Friday 2 May in the newspaper Malta Independent, the EPP's candidate for the job of president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, calls for more solidarity in Europe for dealing with the problem of immigration.
Jean-Claude Juncker suggests a five-point immigration policy for Europe: 1) “Firstly, we need to implement the Common European Asylum System, adopted in June last year, without delay. No rules are perfect, and the new rules are naturally the result of compromise. However, they have the advantage of being able to put a definitive stop to 'asylum tourism'. Currently, one and the same applicant for asylum can have a 70-75% chance of being granted asylum in one country of the European Union and less than 1%, with the same reasons, in another country. It is clear where asylum seekers will go first, but this is certainly not a sustainable criterion for the sharing of responsibility between EU Member States. We therefore need the new EU rules in place swiftly to ensure an asylum seeker will have the same chances of being granted asylum in any of the Member States”. 2) “Secondly, we need to step up the practical assistance provided by the European Asylum Support Office, whose task it is to support Member States under 'particular pressure'. It is no coincidence that this new EU agency and its staff of 70 are based in Valetta. What we need now is more thorough risk assessments to spot problem areas before they become overloaded”. 3) “Thirdly, we need to step up cooperation with third countries, particularly North African countries. To cope with the challenge of immigration, it would be naïve if Europe were only open and hospitable. We must not only deal with the symptoms but go to the root of the problem and help bring about change in the countries of origin”. 4) “Fourth, Europe needs more political determination when it comes to legal migration. I know well that this is not popular and often controversial. But we will only be able to cope with immigration if Europe adopts a sound policy that allows migrants to come to Europe legally and in a controlled manner, instead of by stealth, or by crossing the Mediterranean in unstable boats organised by shady human traffickers. Organising legal migration is also in Europe's own long-term interest. We therefore need to develop a common legal migration policy to meet the increasing demand for skills and talents”. 5) “Last but not least, we need to secure Europe's borders. Our common Asylum and Legal Migration policies will only work if we can also prevent an uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants. We therefore need step up the operational capacities of the European border agency FRONTEX. A budget of just €90 million a year is a good start, but does not yet equal the task of protecting Europe's common borders. We need to pool more resources amongst Member States to reinforce the work of FRONTEX and put into action European Border Guard Teams for quick deployment in FRONTEX joint operations and rapid border interventions”. (LC)