EU: EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers have failed to agree on a five-year plan to create a common asylum and immigration system, with an EU border guard and closer co-operation among national police forces, writes Denis Staunton, European Correspondent
Meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, the ministers were divided on how soon the EU should establish a common asylum procedure and a uniform status throughout the Union for people who are granted asylum in one member-state. The ministers also failed to agree on a proposal to establish a joint border control for policing the Mediterranean and the EU's eastern borders.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said there was broad agreement on most of the five-year plan, called the Hague Programme, which is expected to be approved by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels next month.
He said the Dutch EU presidency had agreed, however, to redraft sections of the programme that have been the focus of disagreement.
"I am signing no blank cheques on behalf of the Irish Government."
Among the more controversial proposals is a move to abolish national vetoes on policies relating to asylum procedure. The British government has come under pressure, but Mr McDowell said Ireland had no difficulty signing up to the proposal.
"We are content with the move to qualified majority voting in relation to procedural areas of asylum law," he said.
EU governments have already agreed common standards for asylum-seekers but the Hague Programme proposes joint processing of asylum applications by 2010. Mr McDowell said that deadline had been "very significantly diluted" and officials suggested the date would represent little more than a target.
A number of ministers, including Mr McDowell, said the proposal to establish a common EU border guard was premature and suggested that a better approach would be to enhance existing co-operation among border authorities.
Germany, Slovakia and Estonia opposed a proposal to abolish national vetoes on measures concerning legal immigration that could lead to agreed quotas for immigration to the EU from specific countries.
Mr McDowell expressed satisfaction that an Irish move to have information on sex offenders included in a plan for greater data sharing among police forces had won general approval.
The Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Mr Antonio Vitorino, said Europeans needed an asylum system urgently and it should be in place by 2010. He said such a system would be a concrete expression of solidarity among European countries.
Britain's Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, claimed, however, that many countries shared Britain's reluctance to cede national control of asylum and immigration policy. "People are very mindful that they don't want to find themselves signed up to something that would disadvantage them."