Strasbourg, 12/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On behalf of the Spanish Presidency of the Council, Minister of State Ramon de Miguel presented the European Parliament with a rather detailed programme on Wednesday of the European Council of Seville, to be held on 21 and 22 June, placing special emphasis on the problem of immigration - for which he was both praised and criticised by MEPs. To British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden, who asked for the situation in Zimbabwe to be discussed at the Summit and appear in its conclusions (the MEP was indignant at the presence of President Mugabe at the FAO Summit, despite the EU's "travel ban" on him), Mr. de Miguel said that the issue would be dealt with by the General Affairs Council of 17 June, and that, "if necessary and appropriate", it could also be discussed at Heads of State and Government level in Seville.
Commission President Romano Proidi wanted to focus his address on two subjects - "how to govern the Union" and immigration - and, regarding the former, he said with insistence: if we want to secure useful results, "all institutions" must participate in a co-ordinated approach, "moving forward together, beyond "better regulation" to tackle both with sincerity and conviction the "better organisation" of all institutions". "Institutions must be refocused on their fundamental missions. Each institution must therefore assume clear responsibilities so as, by the end of the year, to reach an inter-institutional agreement", Prodi stipulated, noting that Parliament was in the process of reviewing its rules of procedure with the Corbett Report, currently being adopted, and that the Solana report had opened up reflection on possible internal Council reforms "without altering the treaty". I can only welcome the fact, he commented, that the Council is preparing to make a distinction between the procedures it applies when acting in its legislative capacity and those applicable in its purely administrative role, and also that it places emphasis on the "continuity of its work, on the need to enhance internal co-ordination of its activity and on the possible reduction" of its formations.
Regarding co-operation between institutions, European Parliament President Pat Cox confirmed: we expect the Seville Summit to "deliver a platform" for a substantial inter-institutional agreement (see EUROPE of 7 June, p. 4 and 10/11 June, p.6, for declarations Cox has already made on this subject). The President of the EPP-ED Group, Hans Poettering, agreed: my Group's judgement on the Spanish Presidency will depend on that too. Mr. Aznar had hinted at that in his address before us in January, and we expect the Summit of Seville to decide on the setting up of a "high-level political working group to discuss how to improve the Community's legislative work, so as to reach an inter-institutional agreement by the end of the year, said the CDU member of the EP.
Council President Ramon de Miguel did not speak out on that subject. Regarding institutional issues, he simply said that: Valery Giscard d'Estaing will make an oral report (Saturday morning: Ed.) on the work of the European Convention. The Convention has already had five plenary sessions, and the "preliminary" conclusion can already be drawn that the Members are in favour of a "realistic deepening of integration", he remarked; - the report that the Presidency will present on the Council's internal reform, on the basis of the Solana Report, aims in particular to guarantee greater transparency of the legislative process and to introduce practical reforms to render the work of the Council "speedier and more dynamic", notably in view of enlargement. He then added: it's an obvious fact - but worth repeating - that the European Council will broach no subject that would demand a reform of "primary legislation", as that is up to the European Convention, and then the next Intergovernmental Conference.
Summit Message on India and Pakistan
Regarding the political topics that will be dealt with in Seville, Romano de Miguel obviously mentioned the Middle East, but also the conflict between India and Pakistan, hoping that the signs of détente between Delhi and Islamabad of these past few days would be confirmed and stressing the consequences that this conflict could have due to the nuclear threat, not only for the Asian continent but for the world as a whole.
In this context, Romano Prodi urged the EU to pay attention to "all potential conflicts", citing the case of Madagascar where, he noted, "the post-electoral situation is increasingly dangerous".
Romano Prodi's speech emphasised the importance of the immigration issue and stressed that "the political signals we've received are very clear…we cannot put the issue of security into the background…and neither can we pretend that nationalist positions offer a valid solution to trans-national phenomena…which can only be managed at a European level." This does not simply mean combating illegal immigration but also means creating the basis for full integration of legal immigrants in our society and the regulation of immigrants' access that we are in need of, explained Mr Prodi. The President of the Commission also referred to the fact that some people saw enlargement as a threat, "exactly because of the issue of immigration…why do citizens from candidate countries have to leave their countries, radically change their way of living, at the very moment, thanks to accession, a new perspective of prosperity is offered them? Didn't we experience the same thing when Spain and Portugal joined"? Mr Prodi explained that action was needed in several directions to strengthen external EU border controls, "on the basis of recent proposals by the Commission and Italian government". He also pointed out that he was counting on the European Council to bring those in charge of policing the borders together, in order to establish what action and instruments were necessary to get this initiative up and running. In this context, he underlined the necessity of a co-operation policy with countries of origin and systematic application of all instruments available to the EU. These would include, "a policy on the causes of migratory movements, bilateral and re-admission agreements". The President also announced that they would soon be presenting "operational provisions" on these points.
In his speech, Ramon de Miguel, underlined the priority given by the Spanish Presidency to Justice and Home affairs issues and confirmed that the Presidency would be expecting advances in four areas, at the Seville Summit: Community policy on asylum and immigration; the Summit will ask the Council to approve legislative instruments necessary for such a policy, which aims to maintain the balance between protection for European citizens and those of refugees; a comprehensive plan to fight against illegal immigration by trying to obtain results in the "short-term"; a border protection programme; integration of immigration policy in external EU action (see EUROPE 3-4 June page 5).
The President of the Council spelt out the different topics the Seville Summit would be covering in the follow-up to Barcelona, stressing that, Heads of States and Governments will be expected to have a copy of the June 20 ECOFIN Council report on the main economic political guidelines (see below); the Presidency will be presenting a report on the work involved in the fiscal package (notably, savings taxation and energy) and "corporate governance" (report by high level group); another report on the table will be that of the Commission on general interest services (see summary of the report in EUROPE 7 June page 9).
During the debate, Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the EPP-DE Group requested that the war on terrorism did not compromise civil rights in any way. Italian Radical, Marco Cappato considered that the EU had become a bit disorientated and could not solve the problem of immigration if higher customs duties were imposed on poor countries together with the aid provided to them. The leitmotiv, "better regulation", Mr Cappato exclaimed that, "We need more democratic procedures" rather than "rapid ones". Spanish Socialist, Rosa Diez Gonzalez was very critical, stating that over the last six months, "We have talked a lot, talked about everything" in order to end up with "a complicated agenda and confusion". Speaking for the Liberals, Jules Maaten, explained that the EU's insistence on the fight against immigration resembled a "Hispanic-British Tango" and what was needed was co-decision in these matters - not new ideas but rather putting them into practice. Speaking for the Greens/ALE, Jan Lambert, stressed that the EU should give a clear signal at Seville, in support of sustainable development that is due to be discussed at the Summit of Johannesburg. Salvador Jové Peres, speaking on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group feared that there would be a delay in the enlargement process, following the blocking of the General Affairs Council on 10 June, by farmers protesting over direct aid. Gerard Collins from Ireland speaking on behalf of the UEN, described how even if Nice had not changed the situation in Ireland at all (particularly on Ireland's participation in UN led peace keeping operations), it was still essential that at Seville, a declaration clearly outlining that Ireland's military neutrality would be respected. The President of the EDD group, Jens-Peter Bonde, complained that the Council lacked transparency. Faced with a barrage of critics, the MEP from the Partido Popular, José Salafranca, pointed out that Presidencies were not responsible for everything and each Summit was in part disappointing for those with particular aspirations. EUROPE will return to the debate.