European Union interior ministers, spurred by right-wing populist gains across EU states, today sought to put in place an action plan against illegal immigration for EU leaders to endorse at a summit in Spain next week.
Led by Spain and Britain, ministers discussed practical common solutions and timetables for the fight against illegal migration, which has provoked strong public support for anti-immigration parties in the 15-nation bloc.
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"If democratic politicians fail to tackle the difficult issues posed by immigration and asylum in the new global environment, people will increasingly embrace extremist solutions," British Home Secretary Mr David Blunkett said in a letter to EU colleagues.
But Sweden's migration and development aid minister, Mr Jan Karlsson, reflecting concern among human rights campaigners, warned ministers: "It should not be xenophobes who set the EU's agenda...We should be very cautious."
Mr Blunkett said it was time for the EU to take firm action rather than just debating illegal immigration. The EU first declared its intention to adopt a common immigration and asylum policy back in 1999 but differing views of national sovereignty, civil rights and the financial capacity to stop or absorb migrants have hampered progress.
Diplomats said the ministers endorsed a Spanish presidency plan today for improving controls on the bloc's external borders that could eventually lead to a common border guard.
France's new interior minister, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, attending his first EU session, hailed the agreement as a leap forward. "A European immigration policy, a European security policy and a European policy of protecting borders is being born before our very eyes...Things are moving forward quite spectacularly," he proclaimed.
But diplomats with longer experience of EU process cautioned that much detailed work would be required to translate the accord into action.
The European Commission says some 680,000 people immigrate legally to the 15-nation bloc every year, but officials estimate another half a million illegal migrants enter the EU annually. Some three million were estimated to be residing in the area in 1998, compared to two million in 1992.
The Spanish plan focused on practical ways of strengthening EU frontiers, sharing the financial and police burden of border protection and coping with asylum seekers, and getting third countries to cooperate in re-admitting illegal migrants.
But EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Mr Antonio Vitorino told ministers border controls would achieve little unless the EU standardised visas and passports, using fool-proof devices such as fingerprints or computer-generated photographs.
He also resisted pressure to set deadlines for negotiating re-admission agreements with developing countries, saying they needed financial incentives, not punishment, to cooperate in the fight against illegal migration.
German Interior Minister Mr Otto Schily said there should be "economic consequences" for third countries that deliberately failed to halt flows of clandestine migrants.
But diplomats said the ministers rejected the idea, raised by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, of withdrawing EU economic aid from countries that did not cooperate.
Instead, they advocated targeting EU aid more specifically to help third countries improve their migration controls and reward those governments that took back illegal migrants.