Commissioners divided over EU list of 'safe' countries

BRUSSELS - Brussels has failed to agree on a list of safe countries from which asylum claims can be dismissed and to which immigrants can be sent back automatically under a fast-track procedure.

The European Commission "decided to take a bit more time to complete the list and come back and take a decision in a couple of weeks," its spokeswoman told journalists on Wednesday (24 May).

The draft proposal by EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini debated by the college included seven states, according to commission sources: Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ghana, Senegal, Mali and Mauritius.

Refugees from Senegal and Cape Verde have been among illegal migrants landing in their thousands at the Canary Islands over the past months and creating pressure on the Spanish government to tackle the looming problem, with Madrid referring to it as a European issue.

But during the debate on Wednesday, some commissioners objected to the fact that only African countries featured on the list.

EU development commissioner Luis Michel has been a leading opponent to the idea of including countries from only one region on the list - although he was not present in college today.

Other commissioners - mainly Margot Wallstrom, in charge of communication and Neelie Kroes, responsible for competition, opposed that Mali and Botswana be regarded as "safe" by the EU.

Mali is criticised by international human rights organisations due to its practise of female genital mutilation, while in Botswana homosexuality is illegal and the country also practises the death penalty.

Avoid \"shopping\" for asylum

Mr Frattini said after the meeting that he would come back to his commission colleagues in two weeks with "a substantial proposal" which he will also outline to the EU justice ministers next week and consult with the European Parliament later.

The list of safe countries is required under a new law approved by the EU last December which should lead to a common approach to Europe's asylum and immigration policies and so avoid cases of asylum seekers "shopping" for countries with more relaxed rules.

But the bloc's member states and institutions have so far been unable to find consensus on which state's nationals arriving to Europe as immigrants should be regarded as safe enough for the bloc to send them back home.

The European Parliament for instance opposed Algeria, Libya and Morocco from appearing on the list, due to serious human rights concerns.

Should the final list be approved by EU governments, however, the EU-wide agreement will replace individual member states' bilateral agreements with those countries.

New waves of African immigrants

Following tragic events last autumn, when hundreds of Sub-Saharans stormed the fences surrounding the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta in Morocco, Madrid has pressured the Northern African countries to tighten border controls towards the Sub-Saharan countries of origin, and sign rendition agreements with Spain.

From Brussels, calls for more burden sharing between EU countries in the area of immigration have been raised.

Earlier this week, justice commissioner Frattini met with Libyan leader Ghaddafi to discuss the areas of security and immigration, and on Tuesday the commission said it would deploy EU surveillance planes, boats and rapid reaction aid teams to deal with a new flood of illegal migrants from Africa to Spain's Canary Islands.

Some 7,000 Sub-Saharan immigrants arrived on the Spanish Canary Islands outside the coast of West Africa in the first five months of 2006, and local authorities estimate that some half a million Sub-Saharans are "in transit" in the country at the moment.

Meanwhile, the EU has seen a gradual drop in asylum requests over the past years, with around 112,154 persons having applied in the first half of 2005, 17 percent less than for the first half of 2004, according to the UNHCR.