Brussels, 24/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Dutch Secretary of State for Justice, Nebahat Albayrak, and the Maltese Justice and Home Affairs Minister, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, have put forward five proposals to bring the European Union out of the "status quo" on immigration. The European Union must reach an agreement on five separate points of action, the two ministers state in an open letter published on 17 July in Le Monde (our translation throughout). First of all, "the operational capacity of the agency Frontex, which is responsible for the external management of the borders of the EU, must be improved", particularly in the south and east, they stressed. Then, the responsibilities of the Member States taking part in the naval forces in operations led by Frontex "must be defined", by means of "clear and binding" directives which comply with international obligations. The creation of an investigation mechanism to look into incidents and react appropriately must also be created. At the external borders of the EU, they called for "fast, effective and reliable" asylum procedures in order to distinguish between fraudulent asylum requests and migrants who genuinely need protection. "The European Commission needs a wider mandate to conclude readmission agreements with the countries of origin", the two ministers stress, adding that priority must be given to readmission agreements with Libya and Turkey. Lastly, they call for assistance for the transit countries in their (institutional) capacity to carry out border controls, provide refugee protection and fight illegal immigration. Despite the European pact on immigration and asylum and the future adoption of the Stockholm programme, Ms Albayrak and Mr Mifsud Bonnici are of the opinion that the various tasks to be carried out could now be launched at bilateral level, with the assistance of the countries with the greatest experience in the field. They also voiced their support for the Commission's decision to set in place a mechanism for the voluntary redistribution of refugees. "Even so, a more binding mechanism will only be possible under a single European common system. The status quo is untenable, because it is attracting an increasing number of illegal migrants and is eroding the support to which refugees seeking international protection in all of our countries are entitled", they conclude. (B.C./trans.fl)