Tough immigration proposals rejected at Seville summit

Date: 27/06/02

By Martin Banks

EU LEADERS and refugee groups have expressed relief that hardline immigration proposals failed to gain support at the Seville summit.

The European Council stopped well short of supporting the possible use of sanctions against countries not cooperating over illegal immigration, despite calls for a tougher approach by Spain, the UK and Italy.

The majority of member states were against any such linkage: Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson had warned that it would have been an 'historical mistake', while French President Jacques Chirac declared that the problem could not be solved by brandishing a 'wooden sword'.

Instead, the 15 pledged to speed up the implementation of laws to develop a common policy on asylum immigration and endorsed a plan aimed at introducing integrated management of the EU's external borders - again, falling short of earlier calls to set up a corps of European border guards.

Pat Cox, president of the European Parliament, was among those who welcomed the final compromise:

'The agreement reached at Seville is an important step forward and is a common sense approach to dealing with the sensitive issue of immigration.'

Commission President Romano Prodi, described by aides as 'instrumental' in achieving the final 'balanced text', praised the outgoing Spanish presidency for its energy and determination in securing an agreement.

Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty International's EU office, also welcomed the decision to stop short of adding aid sanctions to the EU's policy against illegal immigration. 'The threat of sanctions highlighted how distorted the EU's policies were becoming,' he said.

Others were not so happy with the summit outcome. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, in Brussels this week to attend the European Convention, said: 'There is no hiding the fact that the final deal on immigration is a compromise, but I suppose it's better to have that than no deal at all. That would have been a failure.'

Peer Banecke, general secretary of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, which represents 72 NGOs, said: 'While we welcome the step away from sanctions towards third countries, we would hope that the EU would start supporting the protection of refugees in those very same countries. This will do more to reduce the desperate urge to leave those countries and thereby reduce the demand for the use of criminal networks to come to Europe.'

Banecke added: 'All building blocks for EU immigration and asylum policies now need to get attention. Real progress cannot be made by only focusing on controlling access, and not working on legal opportunities for access, refugee protection and global sharing of responsibilities.'

Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, who was among a handful of deputies who attended the two-day summit, described the meeting as 'business-like'.

Irish Green Patricia McKenna, however, said the declaration agreed by EL leaders to affirm Ireland's military neutrality amounted to 'nothing new'.

EU leaders and refugee groups have expressed relief that hardline immigration proposals failed to gain support at the European Council in Seville, 21-22 June 2002.