European Commission dodges immigration issues - again
01 January 1991
European Commission dodges immigration issues - again
artdoc August=1991
A European Commission document on immigration, believed to
reflect the more liberal wing of the immigration debate in
Europe, has been set aside for the time being because of the
likely difficulties in achieving agreement on it. Proposals are
believed to include the gradual easing of controls over Europe's
16 million or so resident non-EC nationals, to achieve eventual
parity with EC citizens over the right to move around the
Community in search of work. It is known that certain countries,
notably Britain, would strongly oppose such a proposal.
At the same time, a draft Convention on the same issue, due to
be ready for signature in June, has been deferred until the
second half of the year, for the same reason. This Convention was
to have followed the Dublin Convention - a document outside
Community competence but signed by all twelve EC countries -in
order to regulate the movement between EC countries of third
country nationals. The failure of the European Commission means
that Europe still has no official immigration policy. Some member
states insist that the whole issue is outside Community
competence and can and should only be dealt with by inter-
governmental agreements such as the Dublin Convention and the
Schengen accord. The Schengen Agreement now covers eight
countries, with Spain and Portugal due to sign on 25/26 June, but
its insistence on the removal of internal frontiers means that
Britain and Ireland are expected to hold out against signing to
the bitter end, perhaps creating a `two tier' Europe, whose core
would be free of internal borders but not its periphery. The
Schengen provisions, however, are not generous to third country
(non-EC) residents of Schengen territories, granting them the
right to travel outside their country of residence for a maximum
of three months in six, but not allowing them to move around the
territory in search of work or to change their country of
residence - in contrast to the position for EC nationals. It had
been expected that the Schengen agreement would be adopted by the
European Commission as a model for an EC-wide immigration policy,
but since the Dutch State Council issued a negative advice on the
Schengen agreement (see Statewatch May/June) splits between the
hardliners and the more liberal national authorities have begun
to open up. Migration Newssheet, June 1991.
Statewatch no 3 July/August 1991
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