EU Developments

Common actions to combat illegal immigration at EU level and promote return of illegal immigrants

Addressing illegal immigration has been a central part of the EU's common immigration policy since its inception in 1999. The Treaty of Amsterdam created Community competences in this field in its Title IV, with Art. 62 TEC as the legal basis for regulations relating to border controls and visa policy, and Art. 63 (3) TEC as an explicit basis for measures on illegal immigration and illegal residence, including the repatriation of illegal residents.

In particular, in its 2001 Communication on a common policy on illegal immigration, the Commission announced its intention to "address the issue of illegal immigration with a comprehensive approach" that targets measures encompassing the different stages of the migration process. The three 2002 Council Action Plans on illegal immigration, border controls and return listed such a comprehensive set of measures and actions.

The Hague Programme - the multi-annual work programme in the area of justice, freedom and security, adopted by the European Council of 4/5 November 2004 - sets out the agenda to step up the fight against illegal immigration in a number of broad policy areas: border security, illegal employment, return and cooperation with third countries. The European Council of 15/16 December 2005, responding to recent and ongoing illegal immigration in the Mediterranean region, underlined the need for a broad approach and agreed on a set of concrete priority actions, to be implemented in the short and mid-term.

 

Main areas of actions and developments preventing and combatting illegal immigration:

  • Visa policy

 

The Council adopted on 8 June 2004 Council Decision 2004/512/EC establishing the Visa Information System (VIS), which constitutes the required legal basis to allow for the inclusion in the budget of the European Communities of the necessary appropriations for the development of VIS and the execution of that part of the budget, defines the architecture of the VIS and gives the Commission the mandate to develop the VIS at technical level, assisted by the SIS II committee, whereas the national systems shall be adapted and/or developed by the Member States. The further development and establishment of the VIS required the elaboration of a comprehensive legal framework. Therefore, the Commission presented in December 2004 (COM (2004) 835 final.) a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council which defines the purpose, the functionalities and responsibilities for the VIS, gives to the Commission the mandate to set up and maintain the VIS and establishes the procedures and conditions for the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visa applications to facilitate the examination of such applications and the related decisions.

 

  • Infrastructure for information exchange, cooperation and coordination

Towards enhancement of cooperation and coordination of Member States' law-enforcement agencies, a permanent technical support facility could be established to assist in information gathering, analysis and dissemination, to coordinate operational co-operation and to manage common databases for migration management. Such a technical support facility has been established by a Council Decision of 16 March 2005 establishing a secure web-based Information and Coordination Network for Member States' Migration Management (ICONet).