Brussels, 13/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - We confirm that you have "our trust, our admiration and our willingness to be reliable partners", the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, told Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who joined him in a press conference further to their meeting of 12 September in Brussels. Aside from our contribution to the HCR for its efforts on behalf of refugees (Mr Guterres pointed out that so far this year, the Commission has been the second-largest donor), we intend also to take part in "migration management projects", Mr Michel announced. Questioned by the press about the drama of illegal immigrants washing up on the shores of Europe, the Commissioner thundered: the issue of illegal immigrants is "first and foremost an issue of the development" of the countries of origin, which means that we need "highly committed and massive development policies", because the problem cannot be resolved "by closing our borders". In particular, projects are needed in favour of "young people who want to take their own destiny in hand", "rapid reinsertion" projects, allowing them, for example, "to open up small businesses, to become self-sufficient", the Commissioner explained. Is Europe doing enough in the face of this crisis? Here, Louis Michel's hackles rose: "this is enough to make me want to become an active Commission militant. Let us stop saying that the Commission is not doing enough! Migration is a competency of the Member States. There is no mea culpa here. The Member States must apply the same migration policy: I am waiting for this step forward". Given the growth in illegal immigration, "all the Commissioners have sought to do all within their resources to be able to help the Member States", Louis Michel pointed out. He then announced that on 19 September, a seminar would bring together all the Commissioners whose competencies cover migration issues, to develop an "integrated plan", under the authority of Franco Frattini (who had met Antonio Guterres on the same day). "I cannot take money earmarked for development to pay for police forces", but I can, for example, use the 3 billion EUR at my disposal for good governance to help the countries linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement to "observe the readmission agreements" concerning illegal immigrants, stated Commissioner Michel.
As for the issue of refugees, the former Portuguese Prime Minister took pains to underline the valuable contribution of the European Commission to the High Commission in seeking "transition mechanisms" to lend a "sustainable nature to the return of refugees back home"; "this is absolutely in line with the recent reform of the UN and the creation of the Peacebuilding Commission", he commented. "The crisis", said Mr Guterres, is precisely that: people often return "to countries where there is nothing left". Pointing out that there have been major return movements (Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, RDC and South Sudan), Mr Guterres noted that in a country like Liberia, "a teacher earns twenty dollars a month, whereas the budget is eighty million dollars a year" and that recently, Burundians returning from Tanzania found themselves in a situation of extreme poverty.
Mr Michel went on to point out that he and Mr Guterres had also discussed the situation in Darfur (where things are " taking a turn for the worst, like in 2003"), in Somalia, Chad, Lebanon (where "the end of the blockade has considerably changed the humanitarian context").