Brussels, 23/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to run an education campaign to counter the fierce criticism of the Returns Directive from leaders of Latin American countries. A European Commission spokesperson, Johannes Laitenberger, said on Monday 23 June 2008 that he believed the EU view on the matter was clear and the Commission would be stepping up its explanatory work where necessary. Michele Cercone, a spokesperson for the EU immigration commissioner, said it was important to avoid caricatures, adding that the legislation provided a clear legal basis that would enable the Commission to monitor detention conditions. The new directive was endorsed by the European Parliament on 18 June 2008. It introduces common rules on the deportation of illegal immigrants (see EUROPE 9685).
The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the Andean Community of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, threatened on Saturday 21 June 2008 to put a stop to the talks on the freeing of trade between the Andean Community and the EU, in protest at the adoption of the Returns Directive. In a radio broadcast he said that they might even suspend the negotiations because what could they have to discuss with an EU that turns clandestines into criminals? It would be very difficult to talk about business and ignore human rights, he explained. The day after the European Parliament's vote, the president of Peru, Alan Garcia, said the Returns Directive was 'unfair and un-Christian'. He called on the Organisation of American States to meet urgently to look at how to respond to the EU. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, also announced an 'international campaign' of all Latin American and African countries to 'get the situation reversed,' explaining that the first step in this international campaign would be the Mercosur summit (of the South American Community) at Tucuman in Argentina on 1 July 2008. The committee of Mercosur permanent representatives (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay) also slammed the Returns Directive as 'repressive and discriminatory'. Its chair, Carlos Alvarez, regretted the decision that turned immigrants into criminals that have to be taken to court, and that would help give immigration a negative image. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, threatened to cut off Venezuelan oil supplies from the EU and ban Venezuelan investment in the EU. He told a press conference that he had a message for the European countries that apply the Returns Directive. He said Venezuela would not interrupt relations with them but would quite simply stop Venezuelan oil from reaching those countries. Venezuelan oil will no longer arrive in the countries that apply this shameful directive, he said. On Friday 20 June 2008, on the fringes of the European summit in Brussels, EU High Representative for the CFSP Javier Solana said the threat of cutting off oil supplies from countries applying the Returns Directive was 'absolutely disproportionate'. Less than 1% of the EU's oil supplies come from Venezuela. The Venezuelan president often threatens to cut off oil exports but has never actually done so. The Slovenian prime minister, Janez Jansa, who is currently chairing the EU, said these initial reactions were perhaps exaggerated and perhaps arose from misunderstanding about what the directive meant. (B.C./transl.fl)