Vienna, 13/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - At the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Vienna on Friday, the EU's justice and interior ministers unanimously agreed on a plan to set up European intervention teams for illegal aliens to help Member States deal with sudden floods of illegal immigrants or asylum seekers. French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggested drawing up a list of safe countries that clandestines discovered in the EU could be deported to.
EU Commissioner Franco Frattini told reporters that he had suggested setting up European teams in the near future to ensure Europe can intervene in emergency cases in Member States suddenly suffering from 'strong migratory pressure'. He said the mobile teams would be made up of interpreters, doctors and people providing food with people from all EU Member States, to help the authorities of the country in question deal with the situation. All the teams would probably be managed by the FRONTEX agency and would help the countries in question. The Austrian Presidency is very enthusiastic about the idea. Austrian interior minister Liese Prokop said the rapid reaction teams would be very useful in the event of tragedies such as experienced recently (referring to the events at Lampedusa, Ceuta and Melilla, see EUROPE 9041).
On a list of 'safe countries' that illegal immigrants can be deported to, Nicolas Sarkozy said he had asked the Austrian Presidency to made take the idea on. Sarkozy said ambassadors could carry out fact finding missions and exchange information to determine whether countries are safe. Liese Prokop said she liked the idea since it would help brook legal uncertainty at EU level. Franco Frattini has already said that he will soon be unveiling suggestions in this connection. On readmission agreements, the Commission has announced that it has already been in contact with 18 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, including three 'sensitive' countries (no names were given), and Frattini said he hoped to sign a readmission agreement with Morocco in June this year. He said Algeria and Libya were said to be prepared to negotiate an agreement. The Commission is expected to unveil plans for EU deportation flights in February. Liese Prokop welcomed the European Commission's promise of funding for such joint flights (to the tune of EUR 30 mil).
On a more general note, the ministers backed the idea of continuing with moves to set up a common asylum policy. Ministers generally believe it is time to establish a uniform process for requesting asylum and uniform status for people granted asylum or special protection. At the end of January, Franco Frattini is due to publish a communication spelling out the next steps in the process. He is expected to include in this report the idea of a common database on countries of origin, rapid reaction teams and a harmonised procedure for making asylum applications. Until a common asylum procedure has been set up, asylum seekers will move from one EU state to the next to lodge applications. Prokop said that the meeting in Vienna had made a huge step forward in the direction of a common EU policy. There is general agreement among Member States to use existing resources in the EU, rather than setting up new structures. Ministers also confirmed their desire to establish regional protection programmes in the near future (see EUROPE 9048). As already reported (see EUROPE 9107), Frattini outlined planned future action in this field and the launch of operations in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus in 2006. The first programme, scheduled for June, will probably be carried out in Ukraine. Frattini said the three countries in question needed to update their technological capacities in order to establish a clear and transparent system for asylum seekers. He said the programme would also be carried out in Tanzania, adding that a deportation system would need to be set up to help the Tanzanian authorities. In the long-term, the programmes might be extended to North Africa and the Horn of Africa. The UN High Commission for Refugees is expected to take part in the programmes, but Antonio Guterrez, High Commissioner for Refugees, said such action would not be sufficient and a more general approach to the problem of immigration was required, involving conflict prevention and humanitarian programmes.