EU Summit Focuses on Immigration Policy and Enlargement

Summit: Chancellor Schröder speaks to the press at the conclusion of the meeting in Seville.

At a summit meeting in Seville, the heads of state and government of the European Union adopted an immigration policy package and assured applicant countries that the EU was determined to complete negotiations on enlargement by December 2002.

Immigration and asylum policy
Under the helm of the Spanish presidency, immigration and asylum policy was made a priority issue at this summit. Common guidelines for handling people seeking asylum are to be developed by 2003. The ultimate goal of harmonizing the right to asylum across the EU is a fair distribution of the burden, said Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The human dimension of the issue should never be forgotten. Germany's recently signed immigration law could provide good examples for standards on asylum policy, he said

The leaders also came to agreements on dealing with illegal immigration. Initially, border authorities will work together more closely. Eventually, a common European border police force will be established. A visa database will be created. And third countries will be rewarded for the cooperation in taking back illegal immigrants, instead of being penalized for lack of cooperation. "I would have preferred that more sanctions against uncooperative countries be introduced," said Chancellor Schröder. But he called the agreements balanced.

Enlargement
The leaders underscored their commitment to complete negotiations with ten candidates for EU membership in order to vote on enlargement at the next summit in December 2002 in Copenhagen. The candidate countries are: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Cyprus.

However, the leaders delayed a decision on the controversial issue of whether to extend direct agriculture subsidies immediately to new members or whether to phase in the subsidies. The issue will be taken up again in November. Before the summit, Chancellor Schröder expressed his opposition to extending the current level of subsidies to an expanded EU of 25 countries, saying it would cost the EU as much as EUR 8 billion, with Germany bearing a large portion of the cost. In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on June 16, Schröder called for making the decision on whether to provide direct subsidies to farmers in the new member countries dependent on proposals for agricultural reform. "The initial results of the agricultural reform, which we hope to see in the autumn, will determine what kind of offer we can make to the candidate states in Copenhagen at the EU summit in December," Chancellor Schröder wrote.

The leaders also discussed reform of the Council of Ministers, the status of the European Convention, and matters of foreign and economic policy. The threat of terrorism was an unwelcome topic of concern at the meeting. Five bomb attacks in two days in Spain were blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA. Chancellor Schröder expressed his sympathy to Spanish leaders. "We are all in solidarity with Spain in the fight against terrorism, and we will conduct and win this fight with determination in Europe and elsewhere," Schröder said.

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Enlargement Must Be Affordable By Chancellor Gerhard Schröder Published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on June 16, 2002

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