European Liberal Democrat Leaders' meeting on the eve of the Seville European Council 21-22 June

Joint statement by
the President of ELDR Party, Werner Hoyer,
and the ELDR Group Leader in the European Parliament, Graham Watson
summarising the Liberal Democrat Leaders' discussion

'EU needs comprehensive and coherent policies on asylum and immigration - the Council must act and deliver on the full range of measures proposed by the Commission and not restrict itself to publicity stunts on fighting illegal immigration'

The Seville European Council has a unique possibility to take decisive political steps towards a common immigration and asylum policy within the European Union, as foreseen in Title IV of the EC Treaty.

European Liberal Democrats are committed to policies which ensure the protection of refugees, the opportunity to pursue the legitimate goal of seeking a better life and the proper integration of newcomers into their host community.

While recent political initiatives have largely concentrated on the need to step-up co-operation in the fight against illegal immigration, European Liberal Democrats maintain that EU policies on asylum and immigration must be developed coherently and consistently, and must also address the causes of these problems.

We therefore expect the Council to complement recent initiatives on combating illegal immigration with an equal commitment to the adoption of other related legislative proposals, thereby maintaining a balance between purely restrictive measures and legislation supporting the integration of third-country nationals legally resident in the European Union.

We welcome the initiative of a joint management of the EU's external borders, financed by the EU budget to assist national border guards and which can be used for the surveillance of particularly sensitive parts of present and future external EU borders.

European Liberal Democrats express their conviction that the policy directed to migration source and transit countries should focus on assisting and creating incentives for these countries to cooperate, while fully implementing readmission agreements with these countries, and insist that poverty and hunger relief programmes must not be damaged.

Furthermore, European Liberal Democrats stress that EU and Member State asylum policies must be based on full respect of international obligations, notably the Geneva Convention.

The emerging common immigration policy should introduce a legal way of entering the European Union, taking into account demographic and labour-market requirements in the Member States.
The EU must also make a more vigorous contribution to addressing the violent conflicts which are at the root of so many refugee problems. In particular, at this time European Liberal Democrats call for the EU to work with the United States of America to help build a long-term peace process in the Middle East.

We also recall that the slow progress on implementing the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty and the Tampere Summit Conclusions is due to the lack of political will within the Council and the use by certain Member States of individual initiatives which cause gridlock in the decision-making process. Majority voting in the Council and co-decision by the European Parliament should therefore be introduced by 2004 at the latest, as foreseen in the Treaty.

Most people do not want to move from their country of origin, yet many are pushed into migration by conflict, hunger, environmental devastation and persecution. European Liberal Democrats believe the opening of markets to free trade to be the most powerful tool known to humankind to alleviate poverty. We recommit ourselves to the progressive elimination of trade and tariff barriers to allow all to participate in the fruits of the world economy and to benefit from common prosperity.