EU to start negotiations on ‘readmission’ deals

Date: 25/05/2000

By John Shelley

UNION governments are set to give the European Commission the go-ahead next week to open talks with non-EU countries on the thorny issue of taking back rejected asylum seekers.

Such 'readmission' agreements are seen as a key plank of the Union's plans for a unified approach towards handling refugees, and justice and home affairs ministers are expected to sanction the start of negotiations with four countries which are major sources of asylum seekers: Russia, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Pakistan.

Diplomats hope that if these talks are successful, the same approach can be used in negotiations with other third countries. They say that without readmission accords, the impact of any internal EU agreements on asylum seekers will be severely limited because member states will have no choice but to keep failed applicants if they have nowhere else to go. In the UK, for example, 80% of those seeking asylum who are denied refugee status avoid being deported because their home state cannot be established or will not take them back.

These agreements are therefore seen as crucial if Union governments are to fulfil their Amsterdam Treaty and Tampere summit commitments to create a common EU asylum and immigration policy. But diplomats warn that the talks will not be easy because there is no inherent incentive for countries which generate asylum seekers but do not attract them to strike a deal. "There is not much of an upside for the third countries. The agreements may be very difficult to negotiate," said one. "There is a kind of moral obligation, but that is not necessarily enough."

Union officials say that in order to persuade countries to sign up to such accords, member states may have to link them to deals in other areas such as trade - although no such tie-ups are envisaged in the negotiating mandate set to be agreed at next Monday's (29 May) ministerial meeting.

"Ultimately there may well be a direct or indirect link to other aspects of the country's relationship with the EU," said one diplomat. "This will work with some countries, but it may be more difficult to get agreement with others who are not so dependent on the Union."

The mandates due to be agreed next week outline the conditions under which a country would be required to take back its nationals, including the evidence needed to establish that refugees are from the country concerned. Member states will also press for assurances that countries will take back nationals even if, as often happens with asylum seekers, they do not have identification papers. Other evidence which could be taken into account would, for example, be testimony given in court.

Negotiations on the accords could start as early as next month.

Union governments are set to give the European Commission the go-ahead to open talks with non-EU countries on the thorny issue of taking back rejected asylum seekers.