In Paris, the interior ministers of the 'quartet' of European Union countries gathered to discuss border control measures and, in particular, the functioning of the European Agency for the Control of the External Borders of the EU. However, the 'Euro-grands' clearly intend to retain the right of sovereign control over their borders, and to significantly strengthen it.
The French concerned themselves with strengthening their borders even before the EU enlargement in 2004, when 15 newcomers, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, and moreover from the former socialist camp, joined the EU founding countries. Already in 2003, the discussion of threats related to enlargement reached an unprecedented intensity. Supporters and opponents of integration poured out their emotions and arguments on the pages of European newspapers, much as supporters and opponents of the European constitution are doing now.
It was precisely the risk of the European constitution's failure in the referendum in France that prompted the country's leadership to take up the fight against illegal emigration. The fact is that ordinary French people are most afraid of the influx of cheap labor from other countries, including from among the new EU members. Therefore, they protested more zealously than others against the so-called Bolkestein directive, which provides for the liberalization of the services market in the EU countries and granting foreign workers equal rights with indigenous residents. For the same reason, the vote on the European constitution in France was under threat, and it even equalizes the rights of all EU members, among which now, as is known, are also the countries of the former USSR, which causes particular concern among European skeptics, especially in France.
Therefore, the idea of strengthening emigration control, which was proposed back in 2003 by then-French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, but did not attract much attention, began to be implemented three weeks before the referendum on approving the European constitution, which is to be held in France on May 29. In fact, this plan was proposed by French President Jacques Chirac on November 8 of last year: 'To respect the law in its entirety also means to fight humanely but firmly against hidden emigration,' he said.
Chirac's instruction, who for two weeks has been 'overfulfilling the norm' in campaigning for the European constitution among his fellow citizens, resulted in the de Villepin plan, which envisages unprecedented measures to strengthen border control. Villepin himself does not conceal that these measures, which are simply doomed to popularity among the French, will become his personal domestic political capital. Last Thursday he presented the plan to Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The point is to involve, in particular, the police and gendarmerie in the fight against illegal emigration. To this end, a special Committee on Migration will be created, designed to 'strengthen coordination' of the actions of ministries, as well as heads of administrations and executives from the National Agency for the Reception of Foreigners and Migration and other special bodies.
Villepin also intends to establish a 'real immigration police', which will include the air and border gendarmerie as the main 'striking force'. For these purposes, it is planned to increase the staff of these units by 600 people.
As de Villepin himself admitted, explaining in an interview with the newspaper 'Le Figaro' the reasons for introducing such a plan, 'during my travels I was able to assess to what extent this situation is unacceptable in the eyes of our fellow citizens.' In France, according to the head of the Interior Ministry, there are currently between 200 and 400 thousand illegal emigrants. The main influx of illegal immigrants comes from the Arab world and Eastern Europe. Villepin, who recently moved to this post from the chair of the head of the foreign policy department, also did not hide the connection between the strengthening of French borders with the plans of other 'Euro-grands', as well as with the adoption of the European constitution. 'The constitution will allow us to strengthen cooperation, multiply control, and provide us with new tools, such as the European Border Agency,' the minister emphasized.
Actively advertising this structure, which began its work on May 1, France nevertheless emphasizes: we are with the EU, but we will protect our borders ourselves. This is what Dominique de Villepin said on Thursday at a meeting in Paris with his colleagues from the other 'Euro-grand' countries: Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain. And most likely, he found understanding. Especially since these countries particularly suffer from the influx of illegal emigrants.
So, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Germany ranks first in the influx of emigrants, both legal and not. There, foreigners already make up almost 10% of the population (about 8 million people, of which about 2 million are Turks, as well as Italians and Serbs). In Germany, a serious discussion about the fight against emigrants was caused by a recent scandal related to the easing of the visa regime with Russia. Opponents of this decision linked the next wave of illegal emigration precisely to it. As a result, the Germans even began to talk about tightening the visa regime with Russia again.
In Spain, the number of emigrants is also constantly growing, reaching 3.7 million people in 2005 (8.4% of the total population). The ethnic composition of foreigners is determined by Moroccans, Ecuadorians, Romanians, and Colombians.
In Italy, from 2001 to 2004, the number of emigrants increased from 1.3 million to 2.7 million people (5% of the total population). Citizens from Eastern European countries especially strive to get to Italy - they make up more than half of all foreigners. Next on the list are Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans. In the UK, there are approximately 3 million foreigners, mainly from India.
And although the share of people from abroad in France is not the highest among the "major European countries" (about 6 percent), the French are the most sensitive to the issue of emigration. Therefore, the measures envisaged by the French government will be stricter. For example, unlike Spain, which recently granted illegal immigrants the right to naturalization within three months, the French, on the contrary, are going to speed up the procedure for their expulsion, for which a substantial amount has been allocated from the European budget. Already this year, the French authorities expect to expel about 20,000 illegal immigrants from the country.
It is not surprising that the fight against illegal emigration is taking the form of anti-terrorist activity. And it is precisely this work, according to statements, that the measures being developed by the heads of the interior ministries will facilitate. A real raid is being conducted in France to identify terrorists and combat organized crime. Thus, a trial has started in France of three Islamists from the Maghreb countries, suspected of links with the British terrorist Richard Reid, who in December 2001 attempted to blow up an American Airlines plane. The day before, an Algerian was arrested in Paris on suspicion of terrorist activity. The French police also undertook measures against another British subject - Boris Berezovsky. Last week, employees of the French police's Main Department for Fighting Financial Crimes conducted a search at the villa of the disgraced oligarch 'Château de la Garoupe' near the city of Antibes in connection with a case of money laundering in especially large amounts.