Poland seeks support to tackle migration

Poland will push for renewed attention to be paid to illegal migration from countries from the east, during a meeting next week (17-18 October) of interior ministers from the EU’s six biggest member states.

As current chair of the G6, as the group is known, Poland will also suggest increasing the sharing of data and operational experience in the fight against terrororism.

With most of the focus of recent EU efforts on combating illegal migration from the southern borders, including Spain, Italy and Malta, Poland is keen to see better distribution of funds and a refocus on the EU’s eastern borders, where migration from the countries bordering the Union and central Asia is high. It is likely to get support from Germany.

The G6, which will meet in the Baltic Sea resort of Sopot, will also discuss setting up a permanent network of law enforcement officials who would deal with security at major events, such as sports tournaments. As it prepares for the European football championships in 2012, Poland is keen to get co-operation from police forces from other member states.

The G6 meetings began in 2003 following discussions between the then UK home secretary David Blunkett and then French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy. Although the meetings are informal, ideas raised do make it onto the EU agenda. A suggestion from the G6 meeting in Heiligendamm in Germany in March 2006 that police should be given access to a European database of asylum-seekers will result in a proposal by the European Commission in April.

Poland will push for renewed attention to be paid to illegal migration from countries from the east, during a meeting next week (17-18 October) of interior ministers from the EU’s six biggest member states.