L’ultimo rapporto trimestrale della MAI Support Unit al Patto di stabilità

Quarterly Report of the MAI Support Unit to SP covering the period from 15 January – 15 May 2002
Introduction

Following personnel changes in the Unit at the end of March 2002 the work was reorganised to take into consideration areas of expertise and follow up mechanisms. Our aim is to continue working in accordance with the Road Map which was internally approved in the Unit in February 2002.
The report follows achievements made in relation to the main objectives as outlined in the Road Map.

1. Country-teams
Albania

In January 2002 the MAI Support Unit visited Albania to present the objectives of the Migration and Asylum Initiative and to facilitate the composition of the Country Team. The mission report was widely distributed (copies available upon request) and the task force on border management was briefed on the findings in preparation for its mission to Albania. Albania considers the MAI Support Unit’s efforts to support regional co-operation an added value, which should be given top priority. As a consequence Albania proposed to host a regional meeting under the auspices of the Support Unit. The purpose of the meeting should be as follows:
(a) enable exchange of opinions/information
(b) identify issues of common interest where regional and/or bilateral co-operation should be established or improved
(c) list initiatives which are already in place. The meeting was planned to take place in April, however given the political changes in Albania (a new Government was sworn in on 22 February) the process is somehow delayed.
On the question of the composition of a Country Team efforts are currently under way to reconstruct the Task Force for the Implementation of an Asylum System into a Task Force with a wider mandate to represent Albania in the Country Team. With regard to the Partnership Countries Greece is the only country which has so far officially confirmed its participation. Greece has sent a questionnaire related to migration to the Albanian Government through its Embassy in Tirana. The Ministry of Public Order has filled in this questionnaire and returned it to Greece apparently beginning of April. Albania has requested the Netherlands for participation in the Country Team.
Other actors including the Support Unit have also approached the Netherlands in support of this request. The Netherlands have indicated an interest in this context but have not yet officially replied. Mid April the SPSEE was informed by the Netherlands that in the frame of the implementation of the action plan of the HLWG there will be a call for expression of interest very soon. The Netherlands proposed a strong involvement of the MAI in this to coordinate the work very closely. Poland has been approached by Albania too. An official answer is pending. Given the close cooperation with UNHCR in the field of asylum, Albania would like UNHCR to play an active role in the Country Team.

BiH

An UK delegation composed of two officials of the Home Office joined the first exploratory MAI Unit’s visit to BiH (20-21 February). The UK officials informed all interested partners, and particularly the Minister of Human Rights and Refugees, about their plan to support the creation of a Country Team for BiH. The UK representatives confirmed that their very first attempt would be to draft a very preliminary Country Plan.
The Country Team for BiH would be composed of UK (Country team leader). Belgium would have the responsibility to elaborate plans on Institutional and Capacity Building, reflecting needs assessment and possible gap analysis. The Czech participants would be responsible for Refugee Matters and the experts from Turkey would be responsible for an action plan in the field of Migration. The UK representatives mentioned that the planned arrangements would allow an efficient elaboration of the Country Plan, which should be submitted, to the Government for assessment (June 2002).

In a further meeting which was chaired by OHR and co-chaired by IOM (18-20March) the representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SBS had the opportunity to explain and demonstrate all their future needs in the area of Migration and Asylum. This meeting was also attended by member of the Lead Country UK.
The first CARDS evaluation mission – organised by ICMPD – took place from 13th may to 24th of May in Sarajevo. Unfortunately a discussion between the MAI SU with the EU experts of the JHA Mission was not possible owing to the circumstances outside our control. The MAI SP Unit will assess the EU mission report whenever available.

Croatia
On the 16th of Mai 2002 the National Action Plan was presented, signed and handed over to the Croatian Ministry of the Interior. Effective this date the Country Team Croatia successfully finished its task and is now hoping to implement the recommendations given with the financial backing and support of CARDS. The copies of the National Action Plan were also handed over to the international organizations involved (IOM, UNHCR, ICMPD, European Commission). It was agreed by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior and the partnership countries that the National Action Plan should be treated as confidential and made use of only under the provisions as laid down in Article 9 "Confidentiality and Copyright" of annex "A" for covenants in Phare-Twinning-projects of the European Union.

fYROM
The fYROM Country team is well established and has reached a constructive balance between the role of the Lead Country and assumption by the fYROM representatives of a far-reaching national ownership. The Danes and Norwegians also play an important role in the team. The finalisation of a NAP is deemed to be postponed for a few months, since the CT jointly has come to the conclusion that a close co-ordination is needed with the work of the Commission’s expert missions, which will be undertaken in June. Meanwhile bilateral expert exchange between the partners of the team is planned on the development of certain legal instruments on migration. The engagement of fYROM representatives is encouraging. The Junior Partner Bulgaria has developed a plan on their co-operation. The wider scope of a regional co-operation between the five SAP countries has been constructively addressed by the team and will be subject to enhanced co-ordination between the fYROM team and the other four teams.
Since the departure of the former head of unit (end March) who was also the contact person for fYROM until 7 May no additional information/reports have been received.

FRY

The CT is in the process of signing a partnership agreement. Switzerland sent a mission to Belgrade to draft together with the Yugoslavian authorities an aliens/asylum law. Proposals are being assessed and at the end of June there will be a follow up meeting. Yugoslavia is working on a border security system together with the DCAF. France, within the framework of a COCOP (French regional co-operation program) worked out a proposal with the embassy in Belgrade, before the initiation of the CARDS program.
The French expert (Jean-Marc Milliot) from the Ministry of Interior (border police) was selected for the fact finding mission in FRY, in the field of migration. A preparatory meeting will take place in Brussels with the Commission at the end of April. Mr. Milliot contacted the Swiss colleagues before the EU experts fact finding mission (13-26 May) in order to co-ordinate efforts and avoid duplicating what has already been achieved by Switzerland in the field of asylum.

The partners expressed the desire to receive support from the MAI SP Unit to move the process forward. More short meetings with the experts of the country team should take place. It was considered by the CT that the EU experts mission to FRY should have coordinated their visits with the FRY country team . The timetable of the visit was received too late to coordinate a joint meeting with the SP Country Team members.

2. National Action Plans

Results:
1 Country Team finished successfully the NAP process (Croatia).

3 Country Teams are preparing accordingly the NAPs (BiH, fyROM, FRY).
Our objective is to have the remaining four NAPs finalized by end of the year.

3. Regional Co-operation and Co-ordination

The SU facilitated the participation of the SAP countries in the following meetings/seminars
DCAF meeting on border security in Helsinki 17-24.04.02

Odysseus Seminar on the Effective Usage of Country of Origin Information in the EU Candidate States, Prague 13-15 February 2002
Development of a regional strategy

Over the last months the issue of strengthening regional cooperation and coordination was raised and discussed on several occasions with the CTs. During a visit of the MAI Support Unit to Albania the MAI Support Unit was explicitly requested to provide its support to prepare a regional meeting. The MAI SP Unit considers that a strategy can only be built be by involving all SAP partners in the process and when considered the interests of each participating country. The Support Unit therefore has called for a meeting of all Country Teams on the margins of the upcoming WT III meeting in Bucharest to elaborate on the possibility of discussing regional cooperation and the viability of organizing a regional meeting in due course among the countries and international organizations involved in the MAI process. The main points to be discussed will be as follows:
– Does Regional cooperation and coordination already exists – Overview on regional activities in the field of migration and asylum (government representatives of the countries in the region are invited to give a short presentation)

– Regional cooperation and coordination – is it needed in the field of migration and asylum?
– Is a Regional Meeting needed? – Could a regional meeting serve to (a) enable exchange of information/opinions, (b) identify issues of common interest where regional and/or bilateral cooperation should/could be established or improved (c) list initiatives which are already in place;

– What steps should be taken from now on?

4. Coordination between MAI and the EU Commission

This objective has been difficult to implement in view of the fact that the CARDS project related to the coordination of the JHA Expert Missions has not been coordinated with the MAI Support Unit. One of the IOs participating in the MAI process has accepted to be entrusted with the implementation of this project. The existing lack of coordination among the partners supporting the MAI and the lack of sharing of information on features of the project may lead to duplication and negative consequences to the equilibrium among the partners supporting the MAI process. It may also result in different approaches between the NAPs and the EC reports and additionally confuse the SAP countries in the directions to follow. It has already created some negative feelings among some of the countries involved in the CTs particularly non-EU Member States, which initially had been very open vis-a-vis the objective of supporting the close coordination between MAI and the EC.

5. Avoid duplication of activities among different partners and initiatives
If the coordination with the different initiatives could be considered good, duplication of activities will only be guaranteed or will be guaranteed with some difficulty, subject to the establishment of mechanisms of coordination among the partners supporting the MAI SP Unit. The fact that one of the MAI partners is implementing the CARDS project related to the coordination of the JHA Expert Missions has hampered the coordination process and the quality of the initiatives that could have been envisaged.

6. Structure of the Support Unit
Over the last few months the MAI Support Unit was very much involved in the reconstruction of the working environment. Tasks have been newly divided in accordance with expertise. Follow-up mechanisms were established (e.g. CTs; regional strategy; administration; secretariat; fund-raising/finance;) and closer contacts with initiatives/activities of relevance to the MAI have been created and/or strengthened. IOM and UNHCR have been involved in establishing a good networking with their field offices in favour of MAI, i.a. (1) familiarize them with the objectives of the MAI; (2) to lobby on the ground in favour of MAI; (3) to provide relevant support to the partners in the CTs; (4) to make available their expertise and in-depth knowledge on the situation in the field; (5) to serve as information channels for the MAI Support Unit and their CTs as appropriate; (6) to pursue their activities in line with the spirit of MAI according to their commitment made under the MAI umbrella paper; (7) to provide relevant country documentation to the EC for the upcoming JHA expert missions; and, (8) to support complementary programmes in the field of migration and asylum.

Approfondimenti

Vai al documento integrale della Migration and Asylum Iniziative
Le migrazioni nel Patto di stabilità

La strategia del Patto di stabilità su giustizia e affari interni
La dichiarazione di Sarajevo del 21 marzo 2001
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