Bid to combat abuse of asylum

Date: 06/05/1999

By Gareth Harding

EU GOVERNMENTS are stepping up their efforts to stop potential illegal immigrants leaving their native countries in a bid to stem the flood of bogus asylum-seekers entering the Union.

A high-level Council of Ministers' working group on asylum and immigration is looking at ways to tackle the 'push and pull' factors which lead to large numbers of people knocking at the EU's doors.

At a three-day meeting in Brussels last week, the group assessed the situation in four countries - Morocco, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Afghanistan - which EU governments decided were of particular concern earlier this year.

Work on Albania has been frozen because of the conflict currently raging in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo and officials will consider whether to examine another case study next week.

The aim of the working group is to draw up an action plan to prevent potential migrants from leaving their countries of origin in search of a better life in the EU.

Amongst the measures which Union leaders are likely to approve at their special summit on justice and home affairs issues in October are the drawing up of joint plans to tackle illegal immigration with third countries and increasing cooperation with them on human rights and development issues.

At the final meeting of the highly secretive K4 Committee on justice and home affairs issues last week, national officials also decided to set up a more effective early warning system for exchanging information on illegal immigration.

A resolution due to be adopted by interior ministers later this month warns that "illegal immigration continues to threaten the member states of the EU".

To combat the problem, the draft resolution says national authorities need to receive information on dangers and risks as soon as they emerge so that countermeasures can be prepared.

The type of data which EU countries will be required to share includes build-ups of certain nationalities at border crossings; information about new ways of forging travel documents on a large-scale; and monthly figures on the number of illegal immigrants stopped at the Union's borders.

The K4 Committee, hitherto made up exclusively of member state officials, ceased to exist as of this week with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty.

The new EU treaty makes most justice and home affairs issues a Union competence, giving the European Commission and MEPs a greater role in shaping policy. The committee is to be replaced by three high-level groups on asylum and immigration, police and criminal matters, and judicial cooperation.