24 June 2002
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement about the European Council in Seville on 21 and 22 June. This was the last Summit of the successful and very professional Spanish Presidency.
By 2004, the European Union will have welcomed up to ten new member countries with more to follow. This is an historic opportunity which the Government welcomes. Excellent progress on the timetable has been made under the Spanish Presidency and, at Seville, we reaffirmed our commitment to complete the negotiations by the end of the year.
In preparing for a union of 25 member states we need to reform the way we operate. We have agreed a series of measures that will allow us to streamline the Council agenda in order to shorten Council meetings and to make sure that issues decided by specialist Councils are only, exceptionally, put before the European Council.
We have set a limit on the size of delegations. And, in order to prepare meetings of the European Council, the General Affairs Council will become a General Affairs and External Relations Council, split into two separate parts with separate meetings, separate agendas and, if member states desire it, different Ministers taking part. We have opened up Council legislative meetings to the public.
We have further reduced the number of specialist councils. There were over 20 three years ago, 16 now, and we will further reduce them to 9, concentrating in one council the whole of the European Union’s agenda of competitiveness which is at the heart of the economic reform agenda. Our campaign for simpler, better regulation with proper consultation with business and industry was endorsed.
The European Council itself will henceforth set a multi-annual strategic programme for the whole of the European Union for the following three years, with an annual work programme set by the General Affairs Council. This is a significant evolution in the role of member governments in setting the EU’s agenda.
In a letter to Prime Minister Aznar a month ago, I proposed that at Seville we should:
- give a remit for action to strengthen the EU’s borders, including Community funding;
- make progress on returns to Afghanistan now that normal government is being restored;
- benchmark the performance of third countries and use our network of agreements to improve cooperation in handling migration issues.
Since the Tampere Summit we have, across the European Union, introduced tough penalties for people smuggling and people trafficking, and agreed visa security rules, and a Europe-wide database for identifying illegal immigrants. We are setting minimum reception conditions for asylum seekers and established a European Refugee Fund to help countries, including our own, deal with this problem.
At Seville, firstly, we decided on measures to combat illegal migration including action on visas, readmission agreements and a repatriation programme, including early returns to Afghanistan.
Secondly, this year we agreed to take steps to achieve coordinated management of external borders, including joint operations at those borders.
Legal migration can and does bring real and substantial benefits to countries, including Britain.Our aim is not to prevent legal migration; on the contrary, subject to proper rules, we welcome it.It is to stop illegal immigration and asylum-seeking which is not genuine because that debases the system and harms the interests of the legal immigrant.And it is about ensuring the people traffickers who trade in human misery cannot exploit weaknesses.
You only have to look at the success of the joint Anglo-Italian operation in Bosnia to see what can be achieved.There, an airport was being used to transit illegal immigrants into the European Union.Unaccounted arrivals have now been cut by 90 per cent. But we are dealing here with clever, organised criminal gangs.If we shut down one route, they come looking for the next.
So, the third element is about the integration of immigration policy into the Union’s relations with third countries based on the following:
- All new cooperation or association agreements with third countries will have a migration clause and a commitment to re-admission;
- Re-admission agreements with all relevant countries will be completed as soon as possible;
- There will be a systematic review of relations with third countries to gauge the extent of their cooperation in migration issues.
A majority of states, including Britain, wanted to go further in hardening the language on third country returns.A minority were concerned that this looked as if we were prepared to harm our development objectives.In the end, the compromise was that, in respect of any new agreement, returns to third countries would be an integral part of the negotiation on all aspects of the agreement.
In respect of existing agreements where there is non-co-operation we reserved the right to adopt any measures or positions in respect of a third country we decide upon, provided they are consistent with our contractual commitments and development objectives.I have no doubt that this will now form a key part of our relations with third countries, though the test, of course, will be in the practical effect of the measures proposed.
Mr Speaker, the World Summit on Sustainable Development meets in Johannesburg in two months time.I have made clear for the last year my strong commitment to the aims for this Summit. Many leaders, including myself, will be there.The European Council gave a strong message of support for the policies of Sustainable Development.We reaffirmed our commitment to breaking down trade barriers, including on agriculture.We called for initiatives at Johannesburg on water, sanitation, energy and health - all top UK priorities.I urge the House to give this programme its full support.
Mr Speaker, the conclusions of the Summit have been placed in the library of the House.I draw the House’s attention to the declaration that we issued on India/Pakistan and to the statement of the Council which takes note of a national statement by Ireland.
Finally, we discussed the grave crisis in the Middle East.We agreed that there must be an end to the violence so that the Israelis and Palestinians can re-launch the Peace Process as rapidly as possible.As I have said many times, this must result in a secure Israel recognised by its Arab neighbours; and in a viable Palestinian State.
I repeat my praise of the six months of the Spanish Presidency. On economic reform, reform of the Council and on the sensitive issues of illegal immigration and asylum, they have made substantial progress. The direction of policy is clear.It is the pace that we need to quicken.But that is a far cry from where the agenda of reform stood five years ago.For Britain, the policy of constructive engagement is right, proves itself consistently and under this government, will be maintained.
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