Brussels, 22/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, the issue of illegal immigration was at the centre of the meeting of the EU/Morocco Association Council, which was held in Brussels on 22 November. "This is a complex problem, which involves the countries of origin, the transit countries and the destination countries", and which calls for all to work closely together to resolve it, the Moroccan Deputy Minister for foreign affairs, Taib FassiFihri, told the press. Basically, added Kim Howelles, who chaired the Association Council, "illegal immigration is not just an issue for Spain and Morocco, it is a European issue which concerns us all" and which is the responsibility of all. On recent events in Spain, the Minister said that "the Moroccan branch represents just 5% of illegal immigration in Spain", and that within this 5%, "scarcely 2% are Moroccan citizens". Morocco in Spain proposed that a Euro-African conference be held to "make all countries responsible and to take collective decisions in the short, medium and long-term", he pointed out. Morocco is taking "considerable measures" to fight illegal immigration, "which is costing it dearly in financial terms" (he quoted the figure of 80 million EUR to manage repatriation and border returns for the year 2005 alone). And the results are there to be seen: "40% fewer attempts at illegal emigration via peninsular Spain or the Canary Islands". In the long term, the problem can only be resolved by attacking the roots of the problem, "which are conflicts in Africa, under-development, poverty and famine". Mr FassiFihri pledged Morocco's intentions of continuing talks with the EU to conclude a readmission agreement, to reach the "best possible agreement in terms of balance", giving guarantees to both sides and to be "applicable with no problems and with no differences in interpretations". The representative of the Commission pointed out that the EU and Morocco had not waited for recent events on the border between Spain and Morocco before discussing immigration: we have been "pioneers" in this field, as much as 20 years ago, he said.
More generally, the EU sees Morocco as a "very important partner" in the framework of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, and the EU hopes to step up this partnership, by dint of an action plan within the framework of the European neighbourhood policy, Mr Howelles explained. The Moroccan Minister also stressed the "unique" position of Morocco in this Euro-Mediterranean partnership. As an example of this, he referred to the involvement of the country in the satellite navigation system "Galileo" (an agreement has just been concluded on this), negotiations underway on an open sky agreement and the fact that up to now, Morocco "is the only" Mediterranean partner to hold "reinforced" political dialogue with the EU, the only Mediterranean country which is not an accession candidate to take part in an EU ESDP operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Althea) and, so far, the "only one" with which the EU is in the process of negotiating a readmission agreement. "All of this makes Morocco the Union's most advanced partner in the Euro-Mediterranean area", the Moroccan Minister concluded.