Tag: border control

Migration policy in the EU must incorporate a human rights approach instead of solely focusing on security concerns, a UN Human Rights Council report states.

Germany and Austria called on Greece yesterday (8 March) to tighten immigration controls, saying that other countries in the European Union may be forced to reinstate border checks if Athens did not act.

Despite most Europeans being "overwhelmingly positive" towards the enlargement of the Schengen zone, the abolition of internal land and sea borders in the enlarged Schengen area "seems to have prompted the emergence of new forms of control," claims  Anaïs Faure Atger in a March research paper for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

Politicians need to have the courage to stop fighting an unwinnable and destructive war against migration and seek instead to make the best of it, argues freelance writer and analyst Philippe Legrain in the summer edition of Europe's World Magazine.

As Eurojust, the European Union's Judicial Co-operation Unit, celebrated its fifth birthday, Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini presented his vision of how to strengthen the body's legal structure. 

The Commission plans new measures to deal with European Union immigration crises, including strengthening border controls and creating rapid reaction squads of border guards to patrol EU frontiers.

The technological problems associated with introducing biometric chips into visas have proved insurmountable, forcing the Commission to drop the proposal altogether. 

A ruling from the European Court of Justice has upheld the primary European law right of free movement, even of persons subject to a Schengen area blacklisting 'alert'.

The EU policy is to develop a common system for immigration and asylum and a single external border control strategy. The aim is a common asylum policy, working towards the long-term resident status of refugees and developing the return and readmissions policy. 

Ministers of the interior from  the so-called G5 Group have found an agreement on joint deportation flights for illegal immigrants and refused asylum seekers.

In the month which sees the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Schengen agreement, the Commission has published proposals to extend the borderless zone to the new EU member states by 2007.

EU and US officials have held talks on border and transport security but could report no progress on the issue of mandatory biometric passports.

With the suicide bombing attacks on London in July 2005, anti-terrorism has become the absolute top priority for the UK Presidency (June-December 2005) and for Europe. The EU anti-terrorism policy, in place since the 2001 US attacks and extended after the 2004 bombings in Madrid, is being stepped up and will be updated on an ongoing basis.

UK immigration control will gain full legal rights in the Eurostar terminal in Brussels to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the UK and claiming asylum.

Romania plans to intensify its co-operation with the EU Member States in order to improve the security of its borders.