During the first EU Council of Ministers of Justice and the Interior after the installation of the new Executive headed by Josè Barroso, the European Commissioner for Justice, Liberty and Security Franco Frattini presented the Executive’s major priorities in the sector of immigration for the next five years. There are two fundamental guidelines: first, the crackdown on clandestine immigration with the aim of “finally defeating the unscrupulous criminals who exploit the yearnings and hopes of those who want to emigrate”; second, a sound management of migratory flows with particular attention to national and EU policies of integration based on the principles of dignity and liberty. To improve the greater effectiveness of EU measures, the Commission intends to adopt a “bottom up” approach by launching a public consultation preliminary to the publication of the Green Paper on legal immigration in July 2005.
