Policies

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Immigration

The challenges presented by migration represent a top priority for the EPP Group.

The EPP strongly supports the establishment of a common European immigration policy founded on a high level of political and operational solidarity, mutual trust, transparency, shared responsibility and joint efforts. Our group considers that such a policy also requires the establishment of a common asylum policy and welcomes the progress made in this area so far.

Migratory pressures, especially in southern and south-eastern Europe are not new and they are expected to further increase in the coming years. These pressures call for immediate action to be taken. However, long-term strategies and not merely reactions to emergencies are also needed. These challenges cannot be solved by Member States acting individually, but should be tackled as a matter of urgency on European level.

Our Group supports a common approach to a global migration policy at European level, as requested by the Parliament for several years and as already foreseen in 1999 by the European Council of Tampere which set the elements for a common EU immigration policy that combines a legal migration policy, the fight against illegal migration and a policy of development of origin countries.

The EPP Group welcomes the adoption of the European Immigration and Asylum Pact by the Council and the actions, tools and proposals put forward by the Commission in its Communication on a Common Immigration Policy for Europe: Principles, Actions and Tools'. Now is the time to honour these commitments.

In our point of view, it goes without saying that the flows of legal immigrants coming to the EU should be in a reasonable relation to the needs of the European labour markets.

For The EPP Group, the European strategy to address illegal migration (economic immigrants) should encompass following aspects:

• The creation of a European Asylum Support System has to be finished by 2012. This will guarantee a high level of protection to everyone who is really in need of international protection. We support the creation of the European Asylum Support Office.



• Development and partnership in and with the countries of origin and transit, also taking into the account the link between migration and development. We can establish successful cooperation, and concluding readmission agreements with third countries remains a priority.



• Securing external borders and the fight against human trafficking. The EPP wants to stress the need for solidarity between Member States especially in cases of massive influx of immigrants. We need an integrated border management of external borders as a prerequisite for an effective common immigration policy and that it must be developed in conjunction with other policies, notably on customs controls and on the prevention of safety and security-related threats. We need a consolidation of different instruments adopted so far (Frontex, equipment pool, patrol network, Rabits, Code, Borders Fund, VIS). We recently adopted the proposal for harmonising sanctions for employers using illegal migrants, which can be additional tool for preventing further illegal immigration whilst stopping exploitation.



• A robust returns policy. Return remains a cornerstone of EU migration policy. The aim is to have clear, transparent and fair common rules concerning return, while taking into full account respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of the persons concerned. For the protection and support of victims, their safe return and reintegration should be a priority. To do so, we need to work closely with illegal migrants' countries of origin and transit. For our Group, the adoption of the Returns Directive was the single most important measure in the whole area of JHA policy of the past years.



• Promoting intercultural dialogue and integration of migrants into their host society. Migration and integration have become an everyday experience in our globalised world. We need to work at EU level towards establishing an exchange of information and experience on that issue. The EPP Group is also concerned by the link between legal migration policy and illegal migration policy. Our Group has pushed for all the proposals to open up avenues for legal immigration, such as the scheme for highly-qualified workers and better integration. Our Group strongly believes that in order to manage legal immigration effectively, the EU has to draft common criteria while respecting different national circumstances. To develop effective policy instruments on these fields, we need reliable and robust statistics at EU level on international migration and asylum.

Our Group believes that the adoption of the Stockholm Action Plan and the development of measures designed to implement the principles laid down in the European Pact on Asylum and Immigration are important steps towards the right direction. Now is the time to proceed with the approval of procedural and institutional instruments which will enable EU immigration policies to influence immigration flows in a way to respond to the demands of the European labour markets. At any time shall be observed that high standards of procedural safeguards must be guaranteed to migrant workers who shall benefit of fair treatment while being assured that their human dignity remains untouched.