BRUSSELS ALARM AT POROUS EASTERN BORDERS
By Sarah Laitner, George Parker and Fidelius Schmid in Brussels

FT
July 18 2007 03:00

People smugglers are turning the European Union’s south-eastern
frontiers into a prime corridor for illegal migration, the EU’s
security chief has warned.

Franco Frattini, the justice and home affairs commissioner, said
growing numbers of illegal immigrants were arriving via either the
western Balkans or the Black Sea region from Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine,
Belarus and Moldova.

ADVERTISEMENT The Mediterranean is the most visible route for unlawful
entry to the Union, with thousands of Africans undertaking dangerous
sea crossings each year in an attempt to reach southern Europe.

But Mr Frattini warned that undocumented entry through the east was
a further worry. "The illegal migrants coming from the east are very
often victims of sexual exploitation, trafficking and forced labour,"
he told the Financial Times.

His comments highlight the challenge confronting Europe over migration,
with a fractious debate on whether it can manage entry. About 500,000
undocumented migrants are thought to arrive each year.

Mr Frattini pledged to try to bolster security standards in the western
Balkans through EU visa agreements and measures to allow repatriation
of illegal migrants from the Union.

An agreement to make it easier for people fromBosnia-Herzegovina,
Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro to obtain EU work permits
should be concluded by the year end, the European Commission says.

The move is designed to spur legal entry and encourage reform to fight
organised crime and strengthen borders. Brussels said the Union would
move towards a visa-free regime with these countries only if they
acted against trafficking.

At the same time, Mr Frattini will explore opening channels for legal
entry from African nations from which people travel to countries such
as Malta, Italy and Greece in the hope of finding work in the EU.

For example, the EU could offer to make it easier for students from
Morocco and Tunisia to receive visas. This and other sweeteners
would be offered in return for a reciprocal deal to allow the EU to
repatriate illegal migrants.

The EU has yet to forge such a "return" agreement with any African
nation to take back citizens who are illegally in the 27-country bloc,
the European Commission said.

Mr Frattini said: "Thereis a very reluctant stanceby African countries
taken vis-a-vis Europe. I can understand perfectly. They haveto show
their public thatthe rich Europe doesnot want only security,only
protection. But we are ready to offer something. Legal migration,
for example, or visa facilitation for students."

Some member states have been accused of being slow to meet their
commitments to provide equipment for patrols of the EU’s southern
coastal waters by the union’s Frontex agency.

Nevertheless, the patrols were having an effect, Mr Frattini said. "I
have to say for the first time I see a clear positive impact on
patrolling missions and Frontex activity on the flows of migrants.

"The first seven months of operation on the Canary Islands led to
. . illegal migrant flows [dropping by] up to 60 per cent."