Prague, 16/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - At the informal meeting of European home affairs ministers in Prague on Thursday 15 January, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta made a joint request to the European Union for concrete steps to be taken to tackle illegal immigration. “We call for Frontex to be strengthened and for European bilateral agreements to be concluded with the countries of origin of the illegal immigrants. Without agreements, it is very difficult for member states to carry out expulsions,” said Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni on his arrival in Prague. More than 67,000 people crossed the Mediterranean to seek asylum in Europe in 2008, more than half landing in Italy and Malta, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported recently (see EUROPE 9816). Against this backdrop, the ministers of the four countries called for the EU to conclude readmission agreements with the third countries. These agreements would contain a European pass, needed if migrants with no official papers are to be expelled. If no serious progress were made in this area, the EU's efforts on legal migration would inevitably be compromised, warned the ministers in a letter to their counterparts. They also pressed the Council to provide Frontex with adequate financial resources and ensure it had the equipment and manpower needed. The ministers also wanted greater solidarity to be shown by the other member states in taking migrants picked up at sea. “We agreed to discuss this issue at our next meeting (on 26-27 February) to prepare appropriate responses,” said Czech Home Affairs Minister Ivan Langer after the meeting. “For the moment, we have stressed the fact that there is a pact (European Immigration and Asylum Pact) which contains rights and obligations,” he added, highlighting that an asylum support office was to be set up to help member states facing severe pressure. Jacques Barrot, the commissioner with responsibility for immigration, said that tackling illegal immigration was “an absolute priority”. Frontex had to be able to carry out “very close surveillance” of the coastlines from which the illegal immigrants left, he stated. He also said that the aim of the proposal to revise the Dublin System was to give the EU a policy where there was greater solidarity in the face of asylum requests. There was, he said, a further response, which was to “try to sign resettlement agreement” with transit countries such as Turkey and Morocco. The Commission has been trying for several years to negotiate such agreement, but was confronted with huge difficulties in that these countries were refusing to re-admit nationals other than their own. While supporting the calls from her counterparts, French Home Affairs Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie suggested that, if such agreements could not be signed, bilateral solutions were ideal. “The decisions we make must be guided by the search for maximum effectiveness,” she said. (B.C./transl.rt)