Seville, 21/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU15 Heads of State and Government are to approve, on Saturday, conclusions that make a strong link between cooperation with third countries and their fight against illegal immigration. The proposal that will be on the table of the Heads of State and Government will be far more balanced than that presented to Monday's General Affairs Council, with stronger emphasis placed on incentive measures and softer wording on consequences for uncooperative countries. The text will nonetheless open the road to a whole range of sanctions, from diplomacy to possible economic sanctions, even if these measures are not stated explicitly. According to a first version of the draft conclusions, the Presidency should effectively propose the establishment of a clause on illegal immigration in the cooperation agreements, but without writing black on white that the agreement will be suspended if the clause is not complied with. The text should insist on technical and financial aid and on the mainly political nature of the reaction to lacking cooperation. But this could also affect "the other policies" with the reminder that nothing should affect development cooperation. The Presidency proposes a major innovation in the draft conclusions, which could gain the agreement of France and Sweden: that failure to comply with the immigration clause must be noted unanimously before initiating any procedure. Friday discussions didn't focus on this text but rather upon the genral principles. At the e,d f the discussion, the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Josep Piqé said that he was convinced that the text would be accepted. If a third country systematically breaches the co-operarion agreement, the EU would have to suffer the conseqeuences, Mr Piqué explained. Swedish diplomats said that the Spanish proposals went in the right direction. French sources indicated that they were donfiendt that their proposal would be taken into account in the text put on the table Satuday morning. Italy is in favour of a scale of measures before imposing sanctions. Belgium is insisting that there is no automatic link between the problem and suspension of the agreement. Several delegations stressed the importance of the difference between countries that did not wish to co-operate and those which were not able to co-operate.
Still no agreement on the long-term objective of a common border police
Although it is clearly envisaged that the European Council agrees on the plan to manage external borders, presented by the Presidency of the JHA Council (EUROPE 15 June p 8), for the creation of a European corps of order guards, the plan's long-term objective, continues to divide Member States. Euphemistically, Josep Piqué recognised that "countries showed their reservations as to the creation now already of a common police force". That will not prevent us from first working on joint operations, placing in common training programmes, and instructing the Commission to examine financially what can be done in the long term, he added. Denmark is in favour of co-operation between Member states but against a European corps of border guards. Sweden is of the same opinion. Germany said that it could be a good idea in the long term. Italy, Luxembourg and France are in favour. For an initial co-operation measure, Jacques Chirac proposed that France deal with a co-ordination centre for national actions in combating crimes linked to illegal immigration. Romano Prodi recalled that the European Commission proposed early May a border co-operation strategy with the aim of a European border police force and he too stressed that there was nothing to prevent, meanwhile, adopting a "whole series of very important short-term operational measures.
Exact dates for adopting asylum and immigration package
The European Counicl is expected to fix the exact dates for the adoption of numerous proposals on the table in the field of asylum and immigration. The Presidency intends to include the exact dates on the immigration and asylum policy in its conclusions, on Saturday, confirmed Josep Piqué in a press conference. He also mentioned Dublin II (the responsibility of Member States to deal with asylum demands), the status of refugees, family regroupment, the status of of long-term residents and common standards for asylum procedures. These dates are expected to be between the end of this year and the beginning of next year, he explained. Diplomats spoke of six or twelve month deadlines according to the subject. In statements to the press, many delegations insisted, following the French example, on "a clear time scale given to the JHA Council", with an initial balance sheet at the Copenhagen Summit in December. Both Sweden and the European Commission consider it essential that Seville does not exclusively communicate a repressive message.