07/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The French Presidency is pursuing an empty chair policy, complained MEP Marie Anne Isler Béguin (Greens-EFA, France) on Wednesday 2 July, the day after a conference at the European Parliament on the neighbourhood policies and how they related to migratory flows. “The Council and French Presidency seats remained empty. That was a pity. A discussion on immigration would have shown that the French Presidency was listening to experts and migrants from the 16 neighbourhood countries,” she said. “The neighbours of the EU have to sign readmission agreements calling on them to closely control the common borders with the EU. The EU is shifting its responsibilities for managing migration, sometimes to the detriment of its commitments on human rights,” she added in a press release. (B.C./transl.rt)