Sarkozy calls on big five to drive EU ‘engine’

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy hosted a meeting of interior ministers from the five biggest Member States comprising France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain in Evian on 5 July 2005. Mr Sarkozy announced a joint agreement to crack down on illegal immigration and people-smuggling, and the five countries agreed to collaborate more closely on returning illegal immigrants to their home countries and share more information on lost and forged documents.

In a radio interview Mr Sarkozy suggested that the 'Franco-German' engine was now not enough to drive the enlarged European Union of 25 countries, and said an inner core of five big EU Member States should jointly drive the integration process.