Brussels, 10/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 March, the European Commission called on the countries of the Maghreb to take firmer action against people traffickers to combat illegal immigration into Europe. “These states have to act quite strongly and seize all these trafficking groups, often linked to organised crime and prostitution,” said Justice, Security and Freedom Commissioner Jacques Barrot, according to AFP. Barrot will visit Lampedusa in Italy and then Malta on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 March. Both islands are the scene of huge arrivals of illegal immigrants. Barrot acknowledged that relations with some countries, such as Morocco, Libya and Algeria, were complicated by the fact that they had not agreed to readmission agreements as part of their partnership with the EU. Such agreements were “very important, because they allow people to be sent back under acceptable conditions,” Barrot said. His visit to Lampedusa and Malta has “a dual purpose: to help fully understand the situation faced by EU coastal states and, at the same time, to ask them to improve the reception of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers,” the commissioner said. (B.C./transl.rt)