The cabinet had approved draft of the Re-Admission Agreement in february 2007 to safeguard its economic interests because the country was unable to benefit from the Third Generation Cooperation Agreement in the absence of such an agreement.
“If this agreement is not signed, Pakistani trade will be at risk in the EU,” the sources said, quoting the trade minister. They said the cabinet was told that the EU had agreed to encourage its member states to enhance migration quotas for Pakistanis. “The negotiations for the proposed Re-Admission Agreement draft almost broke down thrice in the past on the issue of re-admission of ‘third-country’ or ‘stateless’ people to Pakistan. The agreement was finalized only after the prime minister stopped insisting on exclusion of a clause related to the ‘third-country’ and ‘stateless’ people,” they said. They said all illegal Pakistani migrants would be re-admitted after confirmation of their nationality while the Pakistani government would take 60 days to investigate and determine the nationality of non-Pakistanis. “No one will be re-admitted merely on the basis of evidence of his nationality,” they said. They added that the agreement would not have retrospective effect and would be applicable from the time of its ratification by both sides.
According to Mubarak Zeb Khan of the newspaper Dawn the immediate impact of the agreement would be a large-scale deportation of Pakistanis from Europe, which may have a negative impact on remittances and may also create social problems.
The agreement has not been signed yet.
more from the Daily Times , March 4, 2007
Categories: Pakistan · readmission agreement
The European Data Protection Supervisor’s Annual Report 2006 has been published.
Eurodac is a (First Pillar) European fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers and irregular border-crossers and according to a 2004 Commission leaflet designed solely to identify asylum seekers. The EDPS is the competent authority that monitors the activities of Eurodac’s Central Unit.
Reflecting the data protection rules to safeguard the rights of the data subject to access his/her own data, Article 18 paragraph 2 of the Eurodac regulation provides for a possibility to conduct ‘special searches’ on request of the person concerned whose data are stored in the central database.
The number of “special searches” ranged from 1 to 611 across all Member States in 2004. The important increase compared to last year was mainly due to two Member States while a few other Member States continued to apply this provision frequently. The surprisingly high numbers of such transactions in 2005 varied from zero to 781 per Member State.
This category of transactions has been used extensively by some states; the figures did not match the actual number of requests for access made by individuals. This raised the question of their actual use.
The second phase of the Eurodac supervision — an in-depth security audit — started at the end of September 2006.
In application of Regulation (EC) No 2004/46, the EDPS requested ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) to provide contacts with national experts in the Member States and to deliver advice on the methodology of the security audit. An audit team consisting of EDPS, German and French experts, has been set up. Based on a detailed and interactive presentation of the system and the situation given by the Eurodac helpdesk, the audit team adopted the IT-Grundschutz methodology developed by the BSI (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik) in order to conduct this audit under the mandate of the EDPS. The final report of the audit is expected in the spring of 2007…
A proposal by Germany to also open up for law enforcement the databases of Eurodac was discussed at a 12/13 April 2007 meeting of the Police Cooperation Working Party.
Categories: Eurodac
Maltese troops will be deployed to the new Frontex-led border control operation “Poseidon”, aimed at combating illegal immigration in the Aegean Sea between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey.
more from MaltaMedia News
Categories: Malta · Turkey · operation
EU interior and justice ministers in an agreement in Luxembourg in April 2006 had increased the Schengen visa fee from 35 euros to 60 euros for 15 countries, including Turkey, Algeria and Morocco. The new fee started to be implemented Jan.1, 2007. The EU then stated the fee increase was not applicable for Russia, while Ukraine and the Balkan countries were given a deadline of one year to make the necessary arrangements before facing the EU’s new standards. Shortly before the deadline, however, a new deal was made with four Balkan countries, excluding Serbia, under which the visa fee was decreased.
Macedonia signed the agreement in Brussels on Friday (13 April) while Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro signing up on the sidelines of a meeting in the Croatian capital Zagreb between internal and justice ministers of south eastern Europe on Saturday (14 April).
more from Today’s Zaman and EU Observer
Categories: Albania · Macedonia · Montenegro · Morocco · Russia · Serbia · Turkey · readmission agreement
The German Government was asked about the mass deportation of migrants from Rabat/ Morocco to the desert at the Algerian border in december 2006, which - the Moroccan Government claimed - happened in accordance with decisions of the African-European summit in Rabat in july 2006.
The most interesting points from the answer:
The German Government did not ask EU member states to stop deportations to Morocco or to reevaluate their bilateral readmission agreements with Morocco. Instead, Moroccan legal obligations of international law and the role of UNHCR was emphasized.
The multilateral European readmission agreement with Morocco is still in negotiation, but not imminent. The non-refoulement principle will be emphasized only in relation to Morocco, not covering further deportation to other countries. (ignoring “chain deportations”)
Development aid to Morocco in 2005/2006:
135 / 168 million € from the EU (MEDA programme)
68,6 / 51,85 million € bilateral aid from the German Government (BMZ)
No information was given on specific financial aid from the EU for securing Moroccan borders and refugee camps.
Antwort auf kleine Anfrage, 27.04.2007 Drucksache 16/4833
Categories: Morocco · costs · readmission agreement
Two boats with 31 african immigrants, mostly Algerian nationals, landed last week on the spanish island Mallorca. Another two boats came in september 2006 and january 2007.
The regional gouvernor Jaume Matas is concerned that the Balear Islands may be the new “door to Europe”. The journey seems easier and shorter than to the Canary Islands, especially given the extensive surveillance of the westafrican coast by Frontex .
more from islacanaria.net
Categories: Spain · operation
The agreement is seen as a crucial step toward a visa-free regime between Russia and the EU and eases the procedure of obtaining visas for certain categories of people as businessmen, scientists, cultural figures, athletes, journalists, students and teachers, and relatives.
The readmission agreement is designed to facilitate the expulsion of illegal immigrants who have come from Russia or via Russia from any other country. Under the agreement, the EU provides funds for taking back and resettling these people.
more from RIA Novosti
Categories: Russia · readmission agreement
The European Parliament approved and adopted on 26 April 2007 a regulation providing for special rapid response teams to be set up to give technical and operational assistance in the case of major influxes of illegal migrants over the external borders of any EU Member State.
In negotiations on the regulation, questions immediately arose over the funding of the teams and the need for all Member States to contribute financial and human resources. According to the draft regulation, it will be up to the Frontex Management Board to decide by a three-quarters majority the profiles and the overall number of border guards to be made available by each Member State.
The salaries of border guards deployed in rapid border intervention teams deployed in a host country will continue to be paid by the countries of origin, but the additional costs of operations (travel expenses, repatriation, insurance, living costs) will be borne by Frontex. To this end, Parliament has boosted the agency’s budget by €10 million for 2007.
The decision as to whether an influx amounts to an “emergency” justifying a request to mobilise an intervention team will by taken by the Director of Frontex.
more from EP press service
Categories: RABIT · costs
This Common Centre hosted in the Hungarian Embassy on Chisinau will facilitate in a very tangible way the issuance of visas for Moldovan citizens. It has the capacity to receive some 10,000 visas applications per year.
On 26 Apr 2007 Vice-President Frattini also initialled, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, the agreements for readmission and visa facilitation between the European Community and the Republic of Moldova. The agreement waives the visa fee for the Moldovan citizen.
more from traveldailynews
Categories: Moldova · readmission agreement
This map is the result of a joint assessment carried out by ICMPD, EUROPOL and FRONTEX in december 2006.
It shows the central Mediterranean - from Libya to Sicily, Lampedusa, Malta - where operation NAUTILUS took place in october 2006. The original operation JASON I failed to materialize, when Lybia objected to a cooperation in its territorial waters.
Categories: map · operation
