Brussels, 20/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - My most important message is that during the Swedish Presidency a breakthrough was achieved in the work of harmonising Member States' refugee policies. The agreement on giving immediate protection to a large number of exiled persons in crisis situations shows that the Member States are seriously prepared to show solidarity and take joint responsibility for people who are in need of international protection". This is what Maj-Inger Klingvall, Swedish Minister responsible for migration and asylum, said when making a relatively positive assessment of the work by the Swedish President in this area, before the competent European Parliament committee. Mrs Klingvall hoped that this harmonisation work would now accelerate, and noted that it will be necessary to agree at the EU level, in particular, over the definition of refugees, additional protection, hosting conditions for asylum seekers.
Among the other advances achieve by the EU in terms of asylum and immigration during this six month period, the Minister also cited: the entry of the Nordic countries into Schengen cooperation, the choice of a refugee policy clearly taking into account the rights of children, the list of communes in countries dispensed of visas, the enhancing of measures against the trafficking of human beings (including the "humanitarian clause") and the harmonisation of sanctions, the reinforcing of cooperation with EU accession candidate countries, the intensified dialogue with the countries of origin and transit and the improvement of sharing of statistics and information on issues of asylum and immigration.