http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?S ... 3635-6421r

EU moves to crack down on illegal immigration
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published January 13, 2006


BRUSSELS -- The European Union Friday green-lighted the launch of rapid reaction teams to deal with immigration fluxes in a move to tighten its borders.

An EU-wide immigration policy came a step closer, as interior ministers meeting in Vienna backed proposals to launch rapid intervention teams to deal with high fluxes of immigration into the Union. The groups will consist of interpreters, doctors and psychologists and will support member states that are particularly prone to be targeted by immigrants and asylum seekers -- such as Spain and Italy.


The teams could head for the Mediterranean in May or June, the European Commission said, as calmer seas will make tens of thousands of African immigrants set out in dinghies and rafts to reach the southern borders of Europe.

EU homeland security chief Franco Frattini said the commission would launch a string of projects in June designed to help Tanzania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova to cope with migration pressures; a move aimed to stem the flow of emigrants to Europe.

Frattini also said the commission would put forward a list of "safe countries" later this month that would help keep illegal immigrants out of the 25-member bloc.