Migrations Programme - [12/21/2007]

CIDOB examines the external dimension of EU migration policies

Speaking at a seminar held at the CIDOB Foundation, Stefano Bertozzi, a member of the cabinet of Franco Frattini, Vice-President and European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, stressed the need for the EU to establish common policies in the area of immigration. Bertozzi, who was taking part in the final session of the Fifth Seminar on Immigration and Europe. The external dimension of immigration policies in the European Union, an event organised by the CIDOB Foundation and Barcelona Provincial Council, highlighted the importance of establishing channels for legal immigration and for strengthening the fight against illegal immigration and people-trafficking networks.

In addition to Bertozzi, the fifth seminar on immigration was also attended by Bernardino León, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Consuelo Rumí, Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Narcís Serra, President of the CIDOB Foundation; Anna Terrón, Secretary for the European Union of the Generalitat of Catalonia; Josep Ribera, Director of the CIDOB Foundation and Oriol Amorós, Immigration Secretary of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

During the inauguration of the seminar, Bernardino León, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, highlighted the recent initiatives that Spain has introduced, within the framework of the European Union, to strengthen the external dimension of immigration policies.

Marc Richir, a member of the area of coordination and analysis of the Directorate of Foreign Relations of the European Commission,Félix Fernández-Shaw, a member of the Spanish ambassador’s cabinet in COREPER and Bernd Hemingway, regional coordinator and head of the liaisingoffice of the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) with the EU all stressed the growing importance of migrations in terms of relations with other countries, especially African nations, a fact that was highlighted at the recent Afro-European summit meeting in Lisbon.

The participants went on to analyse the connection between immigration and development policies; speakers included Jeff Dayton-Johnson, an economist from the OECD centre for development; Milagros Hernando, Director of Development Policy Assessment and Planning at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Luis Riera-Figueras, Director General for Development of the European Commission. The speakers discussed the importance that development policies have achieved in recent years as key tools for foreign policy in the sphere of immigration, both on a national level and within the EU.

The fight against irregular immigration was analysed from different standpoints by speakers including Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, President of CEAR; Pilar Fuertes, Deputy Director General for International Relations and Immigration at the Home Office; Maria-Teresa Gil-Bazo, Lecturer in Law at Newcastle University; Miriam Mir, an analyst from CEPS and Jean Pierre Cassarino, from the Robert Schuman Centre in Florence. The speakers debated issues such as cooperation with countries of origin, return migration, the role of FRONTEX and the protection of the rights of asylum seekers.

A debate was also held on the different levels of government that manage the external aspects of immigration; contributions came from Manuel Jarmela Palos, Director General of the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service;Carmen Pérez, an adviser to the State Department of Immigration and Emigration and Zaïr Kedadouche, Director of International Relations for France's High Council for Integration. The speakers, who examined the subject of immigration management in their respective countries, emphasised the relations that had been established with third countries.

Meanwhile, Mirella Ricci, Vice-President of Arezzo (Italy) and Heiko Wagner, a member of the Land Berlin liaison office to the EU both stressed that these administrations ─ due to their proximity to citizens and their transnational connections ─ should be taken into consideration when developing migration policies, in spite of the lack of powers possessed by sub-state authorities in this field.

During the seminar's closing session at the CIDOB Foundation, Consuelo Rumí, Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, highlighted the great importance of “Europe-ising” the migration policies of the Member States, in order to achieve greater efficiency and transparency. Finally, Oriol Amorós, Immigration Secretary of the Generalitat of Catalonia, championed the strengthening of mechanisms for integration.

>> To see the seminar programme (pdf 198kB)