Brussels, 19/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the Commission unveiled a series of proposals to fight illegal immigration, including the creation of European border guard teams able to react swiftly to waves of illegal immigrants, the obligations to sanction work off the cards in Member States, as well as a new proposal on a European code for visas. Franco Frattini, the Commissioner responsible for Freedom, Security and Justice said they, “We need a reinforced and more efficient fight against illegal immigration, fundamental for the credibility and coherence of our immigration and asylum policies”.
Mr Frattini announced that the Commission had approved a proposal for establishing teams of national experts that would provide swift assistance in areas of external border control. These multi-national border guards, funded out of the European budget, are expected to be around 250-300 specialists able to respond in ten days after the beginning of the crisis. They will wear uniforms of their respective countries but also wear a European armband. It is expect that the teams be placed under the control of the European host country and coordinated by the European Border Agency (Frontex), which will also see its role bolstered. They could also have national border guards at their disposal, in identity checks and external border surveillance. The facility for sending back people to the borders could also be allocated to them if they respect the international rules in force. Interpreting, first aid and risk analysis experts will be members of these teams. In compliance with the Schengen Code, entering into force on 13 October, these agents could be subject to both civil and criminal sanctions if they commit reprehensible acts against immigrants. Mr Frattini regretted that Europe did not have a common border monitoring system in the EU, such a system was held back by Member States. He said that their plan was to have common regulation and that they had to have harmonisation in this area. This plan will initially enable a response to be made to the appeal launched in Spain last May to control the waves of African immigrants into the Canary islands. Teams of experts have already been deployed in the field and will be backed up by four boats and two plans. The Commissioner said that he was confident that the operation could begin very soon. The only problem that still remains is the length of the operation. He noted that it should be finished by the end of September. It will be up to ministers of the interior to decide on Monday at the “Justice and Home Affairs Council”. Mr Frattini said that the EU was on the point of launching a mission of the same kind off the Maltese coast and considered that they could not leave Malta isolated and subject to such pressures. Italy and Greece have already responded favourably to send such a mission (“Jason mission”) but several Member States still consider that before any intervention, they need to have Libya's authorisation so that the teams can carry out patrols in its territorial waters. Mr Frattini said that if they waited for Libya's response they risked losing time. On Monday he will ask for the consent of ministers to begin this mission. Another kind of mission, this time humanitarian, is being studied by the Commission in parallel.
Mr Frattini also presented a communication on future priorities in the fight against illegal immigration involving ways of making the external borders more secure, by, for example, setting up an electronic border management system (e-borders) based on intelligence and by creating an automised system of entries-exists. It will also be examining the issue of regularisation (3,752 565 people have benefited from this in five EU countries since the beginning of the 1980s). But the main measure in this communication is undoubtedly the need of attacking the problem of work for third country nationals who are in the EU illegally. Frattini indicated that a draft directive would be studied after the holidays which would oblige Member States to punish with minimum criminal sanctions employers that used illegal workers. Mr Frattini explained that if people knew how easy it was to work on the black market, it would constitute a definite attraction. Such a measure would allow for a double blow to be dealt to unscrupulous employers: giving them criminal sentences and obliging them to take on people who they employed illegally. This measure is expected to be discussed after the holiday in collaboration with employment Commission Vladimir Spidla. Another measure proposed by the Commission: the adoption of common rules for awarding visas for short stays (Community Short Stay visa Code) in order to harmonise national legislation more as well as modalities on warding visas in local consulates.