By Anne-France White - 31st May 2007
EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini has called for greater cooperation among member states to promote legal immigration.
In an interview with Le Figaro, Frattini said he will present a proposal in the autumn for a directive creating a US-style “green card” for the EU, and emphasised that the project is very important to him.
“Europe must be competitive with the US and Canada, which attract the most qualified workers,” Frattini said in an interview.
“The European green card I am proposing will enable these foreigners, whose qualifications will be controlled, to live in the EU for five years and travel around without a visa. This would for instance apply to an Indian engineer employed by a European company in Milan with a seat in Copenhagen.”
Referring to the “legal vacuum” which led to a group of immigrants drowning off the coast of Malta because no ship was willing to rescue them, Frattini said “saving lives is an absolute priority”.
He added that the EU must “as quickly as possible agree on clear and precise rules of engagement for rescuing shipwrecked people”.
The commissioner said he believes the EU border agency Frontex has enough resources to patrol Europe’s coasts – patrols are due to start at the end of June and continue until autumn, “with an emphasis on the Canary Islands”.
But Frattini said his aim in the long run is to create permanent EU border guards, despite what he described as “strong reticence” on the part of the member states.
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