Bomb-shaken EU summit agrees illegal-immigrant blueprint

EU Business ^ | Sat 22 Jun | Robert MacPherson

[Reagan is King]

Bomb-shaken EU summit agrees illegal-immigrant blueprint

by Robert MacPherson

SEVILLE, Spain, June 22 (AFP) - European leaders were poised to agree on Saturday measures to turn back a tide of illegal immigrants, without going so far as to slap sanctions on the poor countries from which they come.

Wrapping up a two-day summit in Seville that was shaken by bomb attacks in other parts of Spain, the leaders were also to reffirm that the European Union's planned 2004 enlargement into eastern Europe was firmly on track.

"This common aim can be realized within the timeframe envisaged only if each candidate country adopts a realistic and constructive approach" in the final stages of accession talks, a draft version of the summit conclusions said.

Discussions were delayed Saturday by more than an hour as the leaders took in the World Cup quarter-final match between South Korea and Spain.

Illegal immigration was the dominant issue for the EU leaders who met beneath the mosque-like dome of the Seville convention center -- an architectural reminder of the eight centuries, until 1492, when Moslems ruled much of Spain.

Set to be endorsed was a proposal to create "without delay" a body that would bring together the chiefs of the 15 EU member states' border police services.

Diplomats say it could serve as the embryo of a single European border police, but not for many years yet.

The leaders were also to agree in Seville:

-- To review by year-end the list of countries whose citizens need visas to enter the European Union.

-- To launch a "common identification system for visa data" based on a feasibility study to be presented in March next year.

-- To speed up the conclusion of agreements with third countries on the speedy repatriation of illegal immigrants.

-- Adoption by the end of this year of a program to send Afghan refugees back home, now that peace has returned to their nation.

-- Formal adoption at the next EU interior ministers' meeting of legislation that would tighten up penalties for persons involved in smuggling foreigners into Europe.

Spain, which passes the EU presidency to Denmark on July 1, and Britain wanted to go a step further by proposing sanctions against poor countries that fail to cooperate with Europe on curbing illegal immigration.

But they were forced to back down Friday in the face of resistance led by re-elected French President Jacques Chirac, who argued that EU development aid was better used as a carrot, not as a stick.

By rough estimates, some 500,000 foreigners settle illegally in the EU every year. Many just overstay their visas; others pay traffickers to sneak them in by air, land and sea, or make bogus claims of refugee status.

The biggest sources of illegal immigration vary: Britain is a big destination for Kurds, Afghans and Chinese; Spain and France see more from northern and sub-Saharan Africa.

The issue is complicated by the fact that Europe's aging population not only needs more skilled workers, but also counts on foreigners to do menial labor.

In Spain, the Andalusian region -- of which Seville is the capital -- depends heavily on foreign labor to pick its olives groves, whose owners in turn reap generous EU farm subsidies.

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[Reagan is King]

I wonder when the US will figure out we need to stop illegal immigration too?

[norton]

About the time all those newly unwelcome unwashed begin turning up in line behind the ones we are already failing to turn back.

[aristeides]

But they were forced to back down Friday in the face of resistance led by re-elected French President Jacques Chirac, who argued that EU development aid was better used as a carrot, not as a stick.

Chirac, after his recent electoral victories, continues to support in effect the Islamization of France and the rest of Europe.

[gaspar]

Chirac is a coward who for years has not stepped foot inside a number of Parisian quarters dominated by Muslims.

[Dialup Llama]

>I wonder when the US will figure out we need to stop illegal immigration too?

When we start electing right wingers.

[Reagan is King]

Chirac, after his recent electoral victories, continues to support in effect the Islamization of France and the rest of Europe.

And he's supposed to be the "center-right". What a laugher that is. I think even a hardcore-right-winger in France would still be somewhere left of the Greens party in the U.S. The only hope for EU is the continuing wave of right wing victories.