Brussels, 22/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 21 September, the European Commission announced its intention to continue negotiations with Turkey and Libya in an effort to regulate immigration flows to the European Union. These two countries are the black spots in the European immigration and asylum strategy. The increasing numbers of so-called “mixed flows”, which involve both illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, are leading to an overheating in reception and border control capacity in southern countries in the EU, and in the worst cases have led to immigrants drowning at sea. To get things moving, the Commission is putting a lot of stock in new negotiations with these two countries. At the end of the meeting of European immigration ministers, European Commissioner Jacques Barrrot reported back on the constructive visit of his director general, Jonathan Faull, to Ankara. He also made the unexpected announcement that he would probably be going to Ankara with the Swedish Presidency at the end of October or beginning of November. Mr Barrot declared: “We have begun to establish dialogue with Ankara on the readmission of illegal immigrants and in order to monitor departures organised by the traffickers to the Greek islands”. According to Barrot, around 12 million people have received international protection in Turkey. “With the creation of a reinsertion plan, we would be able to get more efficient cooperation from the Turks in fighting against the traffickers”. The commissioner pointed out that he was prepared to assist the Libyan authorities in enhancing their capacity to prevent entry and departures from their territory and improve the way asylum seekers are treated. According to the French immigration minister, Eric Besson, dialogue with Libya is “complex” and obtaining an agreement with the country “will not be easy but it is the only solution!” The Italian secretary of state, Nitto Francesco Palma, affirmed that out of the 757 people sent back to Libya during the summer, no demand for asylum had been made. Several charities, particularly Human Rights Watch (see other article) believe, however, that Italy has not respected international law by deporting migrants to Libya, including asylum seekers. In the context of these accusations, Mr Barrot indicated: “We will examine the responses provided by the Italian government”. He concluded: “We want to tackle the cause of the problems. This is why we are keen in establishing dialogue with Libya. It's a chance to get Libya to examine requests for asylum on their soil”. At the end of the meeting, even United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres did not appear hostile to cooperation with Libya developing, particularly if the latter agreed to make a substantial effort to ensure greater respect for asylum seekers' rights on its own soil (EUROPE 9931). (B.C./transl.rh)