Brussels, 26/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - In a joint letter to the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU, no fewer than eight heads of state and government from Southern European countries called for the European Union to mobilise to meet the influx of illegal immigrants (see also EUROPE 9272). “The urgency of the problem of illegal immigration in the Mediterranean and the South of Europe requires the European Union to mobilise and the countries of origin, transit and destination of the migrants to act together,” they said. “This challenge”, they went on, “is beyond the means at the disposal of individual Member States”. The letter to the President of the European Council Matti Vanhanen was signed by Romano Prodi (Italy), José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Spain), Costas Caramanlis (Greece), José Socrates (Portugal), Jacques Chirac (France), Tassos Papadopoulos (Cyprus), Lawrence Gonzi (Malta) and Janez Jans (Slovenia), who stressed “the issue must be tackled at European level, particularly in terms of financial aid and deployment of resources - in support of the efforts deployed by the Member States most affected”. The signatories also called for this issue to be on the agenda for the Lahti informal summit on 20 October, an occasion which, they said, “is an excellent opportunity to take stock of the situation, prior to operational decisions likely to be taken at the European Council in December”. They added that were still awaiting the concrete proposals announced by the European Commission President on 7 September (see EUROPE 9260). The letter recalled that the global approach to migration adopted by the Council in December 2005, with its priority actions focussed on Africa and the Mediterranean, was the reference framework for European policy in this area. Aware of the need for a “clear political will” to implement joint decisions and to develop “indispensable” new initiatives because of the recent influxes of immigrant at the southern borders of the European Union, the authors of the letter considered it essential: “- to ensure that commitments made at the Rabat conference are implemented and the launch of similar initiatives on other migratory routes are considered (see EUROPE 9230); - to accelerate the preparation of the EU-Africa conference in Tripoli and to encourage the rapid conclusion of re-admission agreeements and the proper application of agreements already passed, including Article 13 of the Cotonou Accord; - to adapt Community financial aid in the area of migration to third countries; to reinforce operational cooperation in the management of the southern maritime border of the EU”. Also, they said, “It is important to take due account of the specificities of this maritime border, whether in relation to patrol and maritime surveillance duties, requirements in terms of safeguard and reception and tasks of identification and return of illegal immigrants. In the light of recent events, this last objective is crucial. It is essential to improve the organisation of joint operations with the strengthening of operational, administrative and financial capacities of the external border agency FRONTEX, and to obtain greater involvement from all Member States. Each must contribute to tackling illegal immigration which is of concern to the EU as a whole, and not just the countries which sit on the external borders”. Over the last few weeks, however, several European ministers responsible for immigration have indicated that they did not want their country to provide aid for Spain, which has been faced with this major illegal immigration crisis for several months (see EUROPE 9270). The eight European leaders considered that, “the Union must now give itself the ability and necessary resources to implement this ambitious strategy, which is built on the reinforcement of operational cooperation between Member States and partnership with third countries of origin and transit”.