Rome, 12/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will be preparing a study on the possibility of setting up a European quota system for legal immigration for next Spring. Ministers of the Interior from Member States and accession countries agreed to this study on Friday in Rome during their informal six monthly meeting. Nevertheless, the decision to set up a study is far from reaching a decision on this very sensitive issue. German Minister, Otto Schily, insisted on the fact, that the study did not mean an agreement on quotas. The three minutes speaking time given to each Minister in this initial discussion on this subject at a European level have not really allowed for any substantial changes. Most Ministers, following on from the Swedish Minister, adopted a cautious position, while waiting for further information before giving their line. Only France and Spain, together with the Italian Presidency and the Commission came out straight away for European cooperation. Finland and Belgium, as well as Turkey, which took part in the discussion, were the only ones to say they were against it in principle.
"Only way of obtaining the cooperation of third countries?" Supported by the Commission, the Italian Presidency proposed on Friday to Member States that fixed quotas were freely set by each Member State, which would allow for the cooperation of third countries for the return of their nations who are residing illegally but also for other nationals from other countries who have gone through their territory. (EUEOPE 11 September p 8). Commissioner Antonio Vitorino explained to Ministers that this would involve "the best possible political lever" for signing readmission agreements. The French Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, proved favourable to this "original idea" for the same reason but also because it brought something new to an area where the old methods had not worked, he indicated at the meeting. Spanish Minister Angel Acebes thought it was a very good idea but highlighted the fact that it would be necessary to check that third countries were respecting their obligations. He considered that the issue was too "complex" but that Member States ought to be able to obtain a solution together. Ernst Strasser from Austria believed that the idea of quotas ""could work. The representative of the European Parliament underlined that his institution supported the idea of quotas.
Doubts and opposition: doubts were expressed but not always for the same reasons. Luxembourg was quite sceptical. Belgium and France were opposed in principle to quotas, indicated diplomatic sources. The Turkish representative voiced strong opposition to this system, which according to him as "useless in reality". Turkey considers that the EU should strive to sort out the funding problem by launching a fund for helping poor countries to develop.
The Danish Minister for Immigration, Bertel Haarder, highlighted the "important differences between Member States", and implementation of a common asylum policy being a priority. Polish Vice Prime Minister Pawel Dakowski believed that it was first necessary to deal with illegal immigration before looking at legal immigration.
British representative, Geoffrey Filkin, posed a lot of questions on the quotas hypothesis. He asked how the link between quotas and readmission agreements would be done and how to prevent illegal immigration. Commissioner Vitorino indicated that it would be "populist" to assert that quotas would end illegal immigration but that they would at least allow for at least obtaining the readmission of illegal immigrants who had been detained. The Maltese representative indicated that his country had already set up a system of quotas that worked well but that this did not prevent illegal immigration.
Fear of losing national control of immigration: German Minister Otto Schilly was very reticent about the Presidency and Commission's suggestion. Germany itself has already set up a US style "Green Card" system mainly for India computer experts and wants to keep this flexibility and refuses to be tied to a strict European agreement on the number of immigrants. Otto Schily, was very clear when he arrived on Friday morning with a certain defiance demonstrated towards the Commission. He stated to the press that, "At the end of the day, this would mean the European Commission deciding how many people could come to our countries and this is not possible…legal immigration must remain the competence of Member States because there are so many differences in the labour markets. The Commission strongly refutes this argument, providing assurances that in no case would it determine the level of quotas but just co-ordinate European cooperation and guide negotiations with third countries.
When carrying out its research, the Commission will be looking at how the different Member States' existing and future quotas can be co-ordinated. Systems vary widely from one country to the next. Some have formal systems, other unofficial methods; covering countries or quotas for specific professions. In order to be co-ordinated, some of the research will look at criteria for determining quotas, indicate EU sources.