Plans for a Europe-wide clampdown on immigration that could see asylum-seekers forced to apply for refugee status in advance and more effective deportation measures, are to be at the heart of France’s European Union presidency.
Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, is proposing a co-ordinated crackdown on illegal immigration in government documents, seen by the Financial Times, which have been drawn up in preparation for France’s EU presidency, which starts in July.
The document – a so-called “pact on immigration” – also calls for swift implementation of biometric visas and compulsory language lessons for all new arrivals. It acknowledges that the EU needs migrants for demographic and economic reasons but it adds: “Europe does not have the means to welcome with dignity all those who see an Eldorado in it.”
It calls for EU member states to establish compulsory “integration contracts” for newcomers. They would have to learn the language of the country they were living in as well as “national and European values” such as gender equality and tolerance.
Mr Sarkozy’s proposals include a fresh drive to return unlawful entrants to their home countries. The unpublished pact emerged as Mr Sarkozy announced in Warsaw that France would lift labour market restrictions on central and eastern Europeans whose countries joined the EU in 2004.
France is unlikely to experience the same influx of eastern European workers seen in Britain or Ireland, which opened their doors four years ago. But the move will help cement the rapprochement between France and eastern Europe under Mr Sarkozy’s presidency, and help to normalise France’s place in Europe. Anxiety over low-cost Polish plumbers fuelled French opposition to Europe’s constitution in 2005.
Paris says only one in three illegal immigrants due to be deported is actually expelled. It wants the EU to toughen “re-admission” deals with countries under which unlawful migrants in the EU can be sent home.
Negotiations on such deals are under way between the EU and countries such as Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey. The paper suggests that “all diplomatic and commercial instruments” could be used in negotiations.
The French proposal also suggests immigration be restricted to those with skills in short supply in the host country, based on countries’ labour market needs.
Paris is discussing the paper with other capitals and the pact could be watered down. However, Mr Sarkozy hopes that EU leaders will endorse the migration proposal at a summit this year.
Mr Sarkozy, son of a Hungarian immigrant, owes his election victory a year ago in part to his tough stance on immigration. Since coming to power, he has tightened rules on family reunification and proposed immigration quotas from individual countries.
