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EU: Immigrationasylum and Schengen

01 January 1993

The European Parliament has adopted four reports from the Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee at its meetings in October (debates) and November (votes). These are the reports are: report on immigration policy (rapporteur: Mathilde van den Brink MEP) ref: A3-0280/92; report on the harmonisation within the European Communities of asylum law and policies (rapporteur: Patrick Coney MEP) ref: A3-0337/92/Parts A & B; report on the abolition of controls at internal borders and free movement of persons (rapporteur: Konstantinos Tsimas MEP) ref: A3-0284/92; and report on the entry into force of the Schengen Agreements (rapporteur: Lode van Outrive MEP) ref: A3-0336/92.

In the debate on the immigration policy report (17 October) Mathilde van den Brink said that it was "unacceptable that this matter should be reserved for intergovernmental cooperation", it should be brought within the remit of EC institutions. Her report also called for the right of family reunification and the right of freedom of movement for non-EC nationals. Similar views were expressed on the report on asylum policy, that it should be brought within the EC institution and not left to national governments. Jean-Marie le Chevallier MEP (ER, France) said that the refugees fleeing to Germany would "soon be able to flood into France and elsewhere when the borders came down". Claudia Roth MEP (Green, Germany) on the other hand said that "Europe cannot hide behind its walls and must share its wealth" by tackling the problems that forced people to become refugees.