EU Freedom, Security and Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini insisted yesterday that the wheels have been set in motion to start dealing with illegal immigration.

Addressing a joint press conference with Interior Minister Tonio Borg at the end of a meeting between delegations from Mr Frattini’s office and the Maltese government, Mr Frattini said that he felt the agreement reached between the EU and Libya on Wednesday provided the necessary platform from which to translate words into action.

Asked by The Malta Independent whether he was satisfied with the outcome of Wednesday’s seminar, given that almost all of the seven proposals made have been stated goals for months, Mr Frattini said the agreement provides the basis for a working relationship between the Mediterranean countries affected. He also referred to the points in the agreement – which refer to the establishment of a 24-7 line of communication between the countries involved, including Libya, a joint search and rescue plan and border management training – as examples of concrete proposals.

The document, however, highlights these objectives for a still-to-be-set-up Libyan-EU joint committee which will tackle these issues.

Prompted on this point by

another journalist present, the Commissioner made reference to a chronology of initiatives that have taken place in connection with illegal immigration since he was appointed last November. Furthermore, he also mentioned two financial programmes which will be available soon, together amounting to e21 million.

However, he particularly emphasised what he described as the difficult job that he, along with Malta, Italy and other states involved, had had in convincing other EU member states of the gravity of the problem. “Now they are convinced, but it wasn’t easy,” he said.

He even went on to pledge his support for Malta’s call for the resettlement of irregular immigrants, dubbed the burden-sharing proposal. The proposal was one of a number of points made last month during a meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo had with ambassadors from most other members of the union.

During a press briefing last week, British High Commissioner Vincent Fean gave what might be interpreted as a contradictory statement on the subject, when he spoke of the direction the UK EU Presidency will be taking on illegal immigration.

Malta’s burden-sharing proposal was not a matter for Brussels, but one for individual members states to consider, Mr Fean told journalists.

Commenting on repatriation agreements, here too, Mr Frattini said yesterday that he intended presenting the council of ministers with a set of guidelines by September, adding that he hoped repatriation would begin taking place under a European umbrella.

A few days ago, Spain, Germany, France and Italy announced that they would jointly ship illegal immigrants back home in a single plane that makes stops in each of their countries.

Asked about the concerns raised in connection with Libya’s human rights record, Mr Frattini emphasised that this was one of the major reasons he was pushing for a EU framework for repatriation. The guidelines which will be agreed with Libya will include, as a condition, a guarantee of the human rights of the repatriated immigrants.

Mr Frattini was also asked to comment about the long time that is being taken by the inquiry into the Safi barracks beatings. However, he would not be drawn into making any comments on this point, saying that he would not become involved with the local legal authority.

Dr Borg acknowledged that the issue of irregular immigration had overshadowed the rest of the agenda. However, other matters were touched upon, including terrorism. Mr Frattini has just visited London in the wake of the bombings. In this connection he mentioned the promotion of inter-religious dialogue and insisted that the lesson to be learnt from London is that we need to look into the root cause of the radicalism which is leading to the recruitment of young, European-born suicide bombers.

Finally, on the issue of media access to detention centres – a request which has been put forward by a group of 100 journalists to Dr Borg, following a number of reports about the harrowing conditions in which immigrants were being kept – Mr Frattini said that he and Dr Borg had discussed the matter and had agreed on general access to journalists. Asked to expand on what he meant by “general access”, he said that it meant access to the general compound and not bilateral exchanges with detainees.